National Day on Writing: Climate Change Workshop Offered at Turtle Mountain High School

Turtle Mountain Community Schools teachers Siri Johnson, Jacqueline Frederick, and Kathy Rohlfing partnered with the Red River Valley Writing Project at NDSU to provide a free, four-hour climate change workshop for teens in celebration of the National Day on Writing (October 20, 2019). RRVWP 2019 Summer Fellow Nicholas Miller was one of the breakout session leaders. The workshop was funded by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, a non-profit that runs the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Teens did free-writing about climate change in response to photos showing how climate change affects the wildlife and environment around the globe and learned about particular effects of climate change in North Dakota. Turtle Mountain High School student Sunni Parisien wrote,"I loved the engaging environment. It allowed for me to create work, while being interactive."

Sunni (on the left)  and Clayton write about climate change

Students made cultural connections with the North Dakota Native American Essential Understandings and expressed their thoughts and experiences on climate change through art and writing with the support of NDSU undergraduates from Professor Kel Sassi’s “Methods of Teaching Writing” class. Turtle Mountain High School student Clayton Houle said, "I liked how down to earth and friendly the NDSU students were."

NDSU English Education students Katie Breidenbach (L), Amanda Nelson, Tanisha Topinka and Liberty Colling, listen to Darrick talk about his writing

Students engaged in writing poetry, editorial cartoons, personal reflections, and more. Turtle Mountain High School senior Darrick Frederick said, "I learned about a lot of new types of writing." 

Students learned about the national One Earth Award, sponsored in part by the Salamander Fund of the Triangle Community Foundation, which provides four students whose creative works address the pressing issue of human-caused climate change with $1,000 scholarships. Turtle Mountain teen

Mijajo Martin wrote, "I really enjoyed this and hope more students participate." 

NDSU preservice teachers listen to Mijajo explain her drawing about climate change

Works are blind adjudicated by a diverse judging panel on three criteria: originality, personal voice or vision, and technical skill. Submissions opened on September 12^th and close on December 6^th.

The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards are the country's longest-running and most prestigious scholarship and recognition program for creative students in grades 7–12.

Since the program’s founding in 1923, the Awards have fostered the creativity and talent of millions of students, including renowned alumni who have gone on to become leaders in their fields, including Laura Youngbird, Andy Warhol, Truman Capote, and Sylvia Plath. More recently, Stephen King, Richard Linklater, Zac Posen, and Lena Dunham received Scholastic Art & Writing Awards when they were teens.

For more information about the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers and the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, visit the Scholastic News Room: http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/artandwriting.