For the third year in a row, the students of Juniper School were given a chance to display their story telling abilities through a writers’ symposium.
This year’s showcase took place on June 14 inside the school’s multipurpose room, and featured over 200 different entries from students enrolled in kindergarten to Grade 8.
Each completed book was bound in a hard cover and featured illustrations from the students themselves. Outside of the more traditional novel format, the students were allowed to present their stories however they saw fit, which included journal entries, essays and, for the first time ever, graphic novels.
While a lot of the stories delved into personal narratives, some students decided to veer off into the realm of fantasy (“Warrior of Reincarnation” by David Kirkness) and even political satire (“Hillary Clinton’s Revenge” by Charley Templeton).
This event originally ran during the 1980s, but behavioural support teacher Pat Pegus resurrected it in 2015.
Pegus spent most of Tuesday night reading through all of this year’s entries to prepare for the symposium proper, and said that she was very impressed by the talent and sheer variety of writing that was on display.
Principal Lucy Mayor, who participated in this event when she was a student at Juniper, said there is also a distinct educational element to this symposium, characterizing it as “an authentic project to summarize their writing skills for the school year.”
Since there is no competitive element to this event, every student who submitted a written work received a certificate for their effort.
