The Chicago high school students enrolled in 826CHI’s Teen Writers Studio aren’t afraid to learn from each other. “Everyone is welcoming and willing to help each other grow and learn,” says 11th-grader Stephanie R. of her experience in the program. For fellow 11th-grader Kara K., being a part of the encouraging environment at the Writers Studio has helped her become more confident in her skills and given her a community to engage in discussions over difficult, but relevant topics, like gun violence. “I always feel safe to express myself at 826CHI,” she says.
Villarreal says it is important for students in the program to be aware of cultural events, particularly what’s happening across the city, and to find topics and issues they are passionate about. This is largely accomplished through partnerships with other local organizations, giving students the opportunity to interact with the larger community. This past year, students attended several talks at the Chicago Ideas Week Youth program, including one with Chicago writer and actress Lena Waithe, and participated in workshops with visiting writers. One student even had the chance to lead a workshop with CHITeen Lit Fest.
Many of the students’ works are results of various exercises that involved reading, discussion, or interacting with media. “What 826 kind of does and my theory of education is, is to try to get students excited in whatever mode possible. So we brought in photos to try and get them to write stories based on the photos,” Villarreal says. “There was one instance where a student was taken aback by a photo of what looked like refugee children escaping a war zone and wrote an entire piece based on that.” Many exercises were meant to get students exploring questions of identity. “We brought in Kendrick Lamar’s song ‘DNA,’ and they were asked to think about what is our DNA, who are we, and what does that look like to others.”
