BY WENDI REARDON
Clarkston News Staff Writer
They took out their pencils, pens and notebooks after finding a spot to sit in Depot Park last Friday.
Students in the Oakland Summer Writer’s Camp just finished eating pizza and cookies from Rudy’s Market after walking through downtown Clarkston. With their notes of different things they saw on their walk and learned while taking a tour at the Union, they thought about what they could write before they headed back to Renaissance High School.
Directors Jim Haugh and Phyliss Ness added so far the highlight of the two week camp was visiting the Union.
They also explained the camp is part of the National Writing Project under the Oakland Writing Project.
“The idea is to help children lead their lives as writers,” said Ness. “We talk a lot about leading the writery life. Our focus for the two weeks we have the children is on personal narrative writing which can take a form of a story, a poem or opinion piece.”
She added they encourage the campers to write about what goes on in their life especially people, places, emotions and experience.
“We try to help kids look at things as a writer and be more cognizant of detail and have more of a descriptive kind of writing,” she said.
During the day, the instructors also share literature from other authors to help them see the craft through other writing.
The camp includes young writers from all over Oakland County including Clarkston, Waterford, Royal Oak and West Bloomfield.
“Clarkston is very supportive of the camp,” Ness said. “Clarkston schools allows us to house the camp. The community rallies around it. We have support with scholarships from Clarkston Foundation and Clarkston Optimists Club.”
The camp concludes this Friday with the writers sharing their pieces.