The Young Writers Camp, a nonprofit program of the South Coast Writing Project at UCSB, has announced plans to again expand its reach in 2019 with continued services at UCSB and Thousand Oaks and new grade levels. This year’s open programs include:
» Creative Writing for incoming 3rd-12th graders at UCSB, 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Monday-Friday, July 8-19.
» Creative Writing in Digital Spaces for incoming 7th-12th graders at UCSB, 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Monday-Friday, July 8-19.
» Creative Writing for incoming 3rd-12th graders at Cal Lutheran University (CLU), 1:30-4 p.m., Monday-Friday, July 8-19.
“We are particularly thrilled to offer students entering grades 10-12 a space to continue their path of writing,” said Nicole Wald, Young Writers Camp director. “Our goal is to offer ongoing opportunities for youth of all ages to develop skills, confidence, and a sense of belonging to a community of writers.”
She said the camp will continue to offer junior teacher positions for middle- through high-schoolers interested in supporting the administrative side of camp in exchange for volunteer credit.
Now in its 26th year, the camp has traditionally been offered to incoming 3rd-9th graders with the aim of providing students access to the best and most inspiring writing instruction available.
In 2018, the camp’s open enrollment sessions across three locations (UCSB, Girls Inc. Carpinteria, and CLU) served nearly 300 students, while a closed partnership with Rio School District served about 75 more. Prior years have featured various locations in Buellton, Ventura, Oxnard and Santa Maria.
A growing number of school districts are engaging with the camp as well, and this year scheduled summer partnerships include Rio School District, Pleasant Valley School District, and Oxnard Union High School District.
A fourth partnership in Santa Barbara Unified School District took shape in January when a full class of ninth-grade AAPLE Academy students from San Marcos High School (led by SCWriP Fellow Becca Miller) came to UCSB to lead a morning of rotating writing groups for YWC alumni.
A typical day at camp includes daily journal writing, reading and analysis of mentor texts, and structured writing workshops with peer mentor groups. This leads to a deeper understanding of the writing process and what it means to be a part of a writing community.
The curriculum shifts based on the focus of the camp and the preference of the teachers.
In Creative Writing camps, students engage in a broad spectrum of fiction and nonfiction genres, from poetry to narrative, and expository to memoir.
Creative Writing in Digital Spaces offers all the writing of traditional camp, with added online writing experiences such as blogs and other multimedia writing.
Walking field trips, art projects and guest-author presentations are incorporated as teachers seek to build confidence in a fun, engaging environment while providing writing tools that inspire creative thinking.
On the final day of camp, families are welcomed to a celebration where writers read their published work from a camp anthology.
The camps are loosely modeled on practices the teachers have engaged in themselves. Every group of 20-25 students is co-taught by two teachers who have participated in the intensive month-long SCWriP Summer Institute in Composition and Critical Literacy, deepening their understanding of the art of teaching writing while honing their own writing skills.
The level of instruction across all camps is of a high caliber. Multiple teachers across the camps have been awarded Teacher of the Year and other high distinctions in their schools or districts. Often camps have teachers who are published authors.
“The magic of camp is most apparent at the end when kids who were barely writing a paragraph at the start are turning out multiple pages,” said Amada Irma Perez, a long-time YWC teacher and award-winning children’s book writer.
“The kids begin to view themselves as writers, and walk away more confident in their writing skills and ability,” she said.
An early bird registration rate of $355 is available through April 30 for all camps, after which the price increases. Sibling discounts and scholarships are available.
All writing skill levels are welcome, with the main prerequisite being a love of writing, or at minimum an openness to learning about the craft.
Register for camp online at the YWC website: scwripyoungwriters.wordpress.com. For more information or help with registration, call Wald at 805-893-5899 or email scwripywc@gmail.com.
Young Writers Camp began in 1993 as a way to inspire a love of writing in youth and provide SCWriP fellows extended professional development opportunities in the summer. The camp has served thousands of children across the Central Coast, from Thousand Oaks to Santa Maria.
— Nicole Wald for SCWriP Young Writers Camp.