During school year 2016-17, Mrs. Richardson’s Creative Writing I and Creative Writing II classes participated in a creative writing workshop as part of the Write for Mississippi Project. Write for Mississippi is an organization that utilizes creative writing and storytelling workshops as a platform to speak to high school students about community engagement, social justice, and the search for truth and beauty across the state of Mississippi.
MSMS students participated in a creative writing workshop guided by guest writer and Associate English Professor at the W, Michael Farris Smith. Smith led the students through a variety of writing exercises centered around the prompt, “What is a problem in your community and how could you try to fix it?”. Write for Mississippi held similar workshops in all 82 counties across the state of Mississippi. Over the summer, the organization shifted through the student work that was generated during last year’s workshops to identify the best pieces for compilation in a book.
What Can We Do for Our Country? was released earlier this month and is a collection of 100 poems, stories, and essays written by public high school students across the state. Fourteen MSMS students had pieces that were selected for inclusion.
Interested in getting your hands on a copy? You can order What Can We Do for Our Country? here.