Amid rainy weather and the smell of hot cocoa, Creative Writing Club hosted a poetry collage activity on Monday, Oct. 23 after school. Creative Writing Club meets every Monday from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m in Ms. Stolar’s room.

Officers provided newspapers and magazines for club members to cut words out of, which they then pasted on brown cardstock. Some chose to include illustrations and images from articles, making their poems into full collages.

“Most weeks, we do pretty typical, tame writing activities — I mean, when we get really crazy, we’ll do a sestina,” Vice President Sabrina Kim ‘25 said. “But the other officers and I are always looking for ways to get more hands-on and crafty, and there’s only so many times you can do blackout poetry. So this week we all brought in a bunch of newspaper and magazines, and it was really refreshing to get to tear up paper and physically rearrange words on a page. It was for sure a success with the club, so we’ll definitely be looking for more crafty activities in the future.”

For some members, the activity was more challenging than expected, but pushed them to think in a different way when creating their poetry. 

“Making [the cutouts] into our own poems is kinda hard, especially if you want to make a rhyme scheme or try to rhyme to any extent. But it’s interesting to find words you wouldn’t normally use in your day-to-day writing,” Maddy Yendle ‘26 said. 

Weekly activities for Creative Writing Club range from short story prompts to lesser-known forms of poetry. The officers aim to provide a variety of opportunities for members to branch out in writing style and inspiration. 

“I really like this club because I like how we’re exploring so many different forms of writing. We’re just learning to be creative and at the same time just exploring so many different skills. The whole atmosphere is really nice,” Diya Shakkottai ‘27 said. 

In order to create a sociable atmosphere, the club starts every meeting by moving the desks in Ms. Stolar’s room into one long table. Meetings also begin with icebreakers before President Amelia Spielman ‘24 introduces the activity for the week. 

“I like coming to creative writing [club] because it’s a place where I can explore ideas with writing and hang out with people,” Akshatha Magadi ‘25 said.

At each meeting the club provides snacks, including tea and hot chocolate made with the club’s electric kettle. 

“The snacks are usually Doritos or Oreos because that’s what people like. [They] especially like hot chocolate; as the weather is getting colder it’s just nice to have while you work,” Treasurer Prima Changwatchai ‘25 said.

As a small club with only three officers and less than 20 members, Creative Writing Club provides an intimate space for students of any writing level to share ideas and build experience.

“I like this club because in high school English, there’s a lot less creativity so I really like having a creative outlet where I feel in the zone. It’s a lot of fun to just let my mind run loose and just create whatever comes to mind,” Jessica Portnoy ‘27 said. 

Creative Writing Club’s next meeting will take place on Monday Oct. 30, where members will be sharing their submissions for the club’s Halloween contest.