The Salt Lake Community College Community Writing Center (SLCC CWC) at Library Square is currently looking for teens and adult mentors for their Salt Lake Teens Write program for 2012-13.
Salt Lake Teens Write is a writing mentoring program for underserved teens in the community. Teens are paired up with a mentor to help practice their writing skills, work on projects and build a portfolio. Mentors help inspire and guide the teens through an array of writing styles and genres.
“It’s great to connect with a new person, new perspectives, new interests, new viewpoints,” said mentor Maria Calvi. “The workshops were excellent. Great format, instruction and a fun way to do something new like write poems. I also started enrolling in other [SLCC CWC] workshops on my own: Comics and Grant Writing.”
Teens entering eleventh grade this school year are the targeted age group for this program. They work one-on-one with mentors for one to two hours per week on projects specific to the teen’s needs. There are also quarterly workshops designed to help the teens work on college scholarships, applications and whatever else they choose. At the end of the year they combine some of their written pieces into a book for publication.
The Salt Lake Teens Write program recently won an “Innovation of the Year” award for 2012. This yearly national award gives recognition to noteworthy innovations and advancements taking place in colleges throughout the U.S.
“I think the faculty and staff know that we won Innovation of the Year and why,” said Elisa Stone, administer of the program and assistant director at the SLCC CWC. “But I think that the students don’t know that much about it, and there might be students who would like to be mentors for us.”
A new class starting up this fall at SLCC is English 1810—Mentoring Writers. Students learn how to give feedback to writers to improve their work, explore tutoring methods and participate in service learning projects. Mentors will receive training as part of the Teens Write program but this class will also help instruct students looking to pursue a career in writing and helping other writers.
“Right now we are in the process of recruiting teens and mentors for this next year,” said Stone. “Students, staff and faculty would all make great mentors.”
Stone has dedicated 10 years of service to civic and community engagement. She feels that she always gets more in return than she has given. She has seen those who have been mentors come away with satisfaction knowing that they are contributing to their community in a fulfilling way.
Those who are interested in signing up to be a mentor or who know of a teen that could benefit from this program are encouraged to fill out an online application. Applications for adult mentors are due July 30 as there is a required criminal background check and waiting period. The deadline date for teens originally was set for June 30 but they are still accepting applications for the free program.
Salt Lake Teens Write program is a partnership between the SLCC CWC and the Salt Lake City Public Library. The SLCC CWC offers the community workshops and courses designed to help those in the community achieve success through literacy. The SLCC CWC ois located at Library Square.
