More than 200 high school students from eight local public and private schools, along many homeschool families, attended the annual Giving Voice: A Festival of Writing and Arts held at John Brown University.
The festival, held on Sept. 25-26, included workshops and public performances by distinguished writers and musicians.
The keynote speaker for the festival was Brett Foster, author of "The Garbage Eater: Poems." Foster teaches Renaissance literature and creative writing at Wheaton College. Other guest writers included Jessie van Eerden, author of "Glorybound" and director of the MFA writing program of West Virginia Wesleyan College, and Shannon Polson, author of "North of Hope: A Daughter's Arctic Journey."
Events on Sept. 25 included readings in Simmons Great Hall and a free concert by songwriter Josh Harmony in the Cathedral of the Ozarks.
On Sept. 26, high school students had the opportunity to attend three workshops throughout the day. They choose from 18 subject areas -- including poetry and writing, songwriting, calligraphy, screen printing, stop motion film, and drama and improvisation -- taught by JBU professors and special guest instructors.
There were also two sessions designed to help teachers improve their student's writing habits.
Abigail Wenger, a 10th-grade member of Christian Home Educators of Siloam Springs, took a songwriting class on Friday, taught by Josh Harmony. Wenger said she enjoyed getting a chance to learn from experts and she chose songwriting because she likes to write in general.
Maria Conroy, who teaches Advanced Placement language and composition at the Siloam Springs High School, took 15 students to the festival.
"I think they all had a great time," Conroy said. "They were inspired and wrote some great stuff."
Learning from a new set of teachers, especially college professors, helps students' understanding, she said.
"Anytime they are hearing the same good advice from more than one place, it makes it sink in," Conroy said.
The students, who are juniors and seniors, spend a lot of time at school doing serious writing assignments. The festival was a chance for them to have fun and explore the creative side of writing, she said.
Junior Heyden Smith said he especially enjoyed spending the day focusing on creativity. His favorite workshop was a session about building believable characters. He also took two songwriting workshops, including one taught by Harmony.
Smith said he has been to JBU many times but he never had a chance to see the whole campus before attending the festival.
"It was a good experience," he said.
General News on 10/05/2014