Minority students find their voices at writing workshop

Barbara Vasquez was worried when her freshman English teacher at Millbrook High School in Raleigh suggested she apply to attend the Wake County school system’s Summer Writing Institute.

Vasquez, 15, a rising sophomore, thought she might be one of the few, if not the only, non-white student at the three-week program. But Vasquez was pleasantly surprised to discover that all 21 attendees of the program that ends Friday were minority students like her.

“When I got here, I saw so many diverse people I was glad, ’cause you don’t see a lot of diversity and colors whenever you think of writing or reading or stuff like that,” Vasquez said in an interview Thursday. “I guess it helped me a lot to feel more comfortable, and it just makes me happy as a human being that there’s more people that actually like writing than just white people.”

It was no accident that all the participants were students of color. The school system’s Office of Equity Affairs sponsored the Summer Writing Institute to help minority high school students become better writers and to develop positive racial identities.

The Office of Equity Affairs paid about $20,000 for the institute, which included providing students with transportation, lunch and supplies. N.C. State University hosted the institute for free.

The school system has experienced a spate of racially charged incidents that have been shared on social media. The district’s plan for responding to the incidents includes expanding initiatives serving minority students, who make up 53 percent of Wake’s enrollment.

The students were exposed to the works of local and national minority writers, poets and musicians, including MK Asante, Kelly Starling-Lyons, CJ Suitt and Matt de la Peña, who all came to speak with the teens.

“We also know that for our students of color that if they develop a positive racial identity, that impacts student achievement,” said Teresa Bunner, the Wake school system’s high school literacy coordinating teacher. “So the idea here is to just help them see through another lens the potential for who they could be and what they might do in the future.

“It’s hard for someone to envision what they want to be when they grow up if they don’t see people who look like them in those fields.”

De la Peña, who is working with the students this week, said he can relate to the teens because he’s half-Mexican and half-white and grew up near the Mexican border. He’s a Newberry Award-winning author of young adult novels who frequently writes about kids of mixed backgrounds.

“I do love the program because it’s bringing in kids of color and they’re doing this on their own,” de la Peña said. “They’re not getting anything – no credit, no money. They’re spending their summer writing. That’s a pretty powerful thing.”

De la Peña said his focus has been helping students find their own voice as writers.

Danesh Momand, 17, a rising senior at Sanderson High School in Raleigh, said the program has helped him want to share his experiences growing up in Afghanistan and relocating to America.

“You have to show the world what you feel about specific things,” Momand said. “If you don’t share it, someone else will and then it’s not going to be the way you want them to feel or to know about you.”

As part of the institute, each student will have literary pieces that are published in a book.

“Hearing that you’re going to be a published author after this is kind of crazy,” said Vasquez, the Millbrook student.

This story was originally published June 29, 2017 at 5:52 PM with the headline "Minority students find their voices at writing workshop."