This year, the Holden School Writer’s Club again collaborated with Kent State’s Wick Poetry Center for an exciting project. Each year, the club focuses on a theme for writing. This year’s theme was “place.” Writers gathered after school on Thursdays, heard a model poem, and responded while thinking about their own favorite places, their families, their school and the local community. One model poem was George Ella Lyon’s “Where I’m From.” The kids wrote about their origins: the sounds, smells, and experiences that have formed them. These poems were shared with Wick Poetry Center’s director, David Hassler, who had them translated into Italian. These poems were then given to a group of young (ages 6-11) writers in Florence, Italy. The Italian writers shared their own versions of “Where I’m From” with our Writer’s Club. David then took the poems and a video of our kids reading a group poem to Florence as a part of a new Global Travelling Stanzas project by the Center. Holden continues to benefit from our relationship with Kent State and the Wick Poetry Center!
Susan Louis, Club Instructor
4th Grade Teacher at Holden
