Are you an aspiring writer who wants to be more involved at school? Many clubs, events, and activities are available at AHS for writers so that you can both showcase and improve your writing. Whether you’re interested in creative writing or even poetry, there are a huge variety of things you can participate in at AHS!

Online Creative Writing: AHS offers an online creative writing class available for juniors and seniors, where they write poetry, prose, and receive criticism through blogs, journals, text, and writing groups. Students often engage in discussions and lectures through online resources, such as Google Classroom. They post their work on their own websites that they create in order to receive feedback and criticism. Students can also enter various contests to showcase their writing. This is a great option for writers that have a limited amount of time, but is willing to put in the time to improve their writing! Ms. Nicole Zaidi, the online creative writing teacher, stated that the class “offers students a different way to write and builds their own voice, which many of them don’t learn from academic writing.” She also expressed that the class creates a “positive writing community where students learn to love writing instead of seeing it as something merely for academics.” The best aspect of this class is its flexibility, as students are only required to meet every Monday in-class, and only online Tuesdays through Fridays.

Poetry Slam: AHS’ very first poetry slam was held in April this year, encouraging students to project their voices through poetry. The competition is very open in format, allowing participants to express their creativity as long as it was under a time-limit and school appropriate. For those of you with stage fright, this is also a good event to attend if it is held again next year, as the competition is held in a very intimate environment that only a very limited amount of people can attend. The poetry slam benefited the Foothill Unity Center, and it encouraged students to bring attention to social issues such as poverty through their work. If you are an enthusiastic poet, this event will be perfect for you to attend!

Unity Through Poetry: Another suggestion for the poets at AHS is to become a part of the Unity Through Poetry club! One of the newest clubs on campus, members of this club meet every Tuesday to discuss poetry and how it can be used to express oneself. Members have meaningful discussion and analyze works whose message can still be applied to the modern world. Ms. Zaidi, who is also the adviser for this club, described it as one that is “pretty different because not only are they building a community of people with similar interests, but they are also creating a voice in what they have to say through publishing their words.” Lists of competitions and contests have also been made, where members can submit their works in hopes of gaining some recognition and scholarships.

AHS provides many resources and clubs for students who are aspiring to become better writers and poets. Through competitions, clubs, and others of the sort, students can improve their writing while becoming part of a community at the same time.