The Creative Writing Club attended Fresno State’s Annual Young Writers’ Conference on April 26. There were hundreds of students in attendance from schools all over the Central Valley.  Students submitted original works of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction in hopes of being selected to be published in Fresno State’s literary journal, Spectrum.

Juliette Ortiz (10) won the Corinne Clegg Hales Award for her poem titled “Repetition.” She was one of 32 students to be recognized for her writing and her poem was published in Spectrum.

Ortiz said, “I think to me, writing is a method of sorting out my thoughts and ideas- a lot of my inspiration comes from musicians I enjoy and dreams I’ve had before. Though it’s not my dream career, I could definitely see it becoming something I do habitually, and writing is something I thoroughly enjoy. My initial reaction to winning an award was surprise, I wasn’t told I had won until I was at the Writer’s Conference. I was pretty shocked that something I had written had gotten published, but I was happy to see that my work was out there.”

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Ms. Teixeria, the club’s advisor said, “All of the students worked very hard on their submissions and I am proud of each one of them.  They had a great time and are excited to participate next year.”

The students finished off their day taking a writer’s workshop in a college classroom honing their creative writing skills. For many, this was their first time on a college campus.