The Creative Writing Club emerged and evolved much like a poem does. It started with a good idea that was first realized, then developed, then acted upon.

Juniors Autumn Shunia and Jessie Lauck, co-founders of the new club, realized the need for a creative writing outlet at Mercy, formulated a plan for bringing their idea to life, and followed through on implementing this opportunity for students.

After two years of high school English classes, Shunia and Lauck felt that writing for school was strictly analytical and didn’t allow much room for developing one’s own style. They knew it was important to be able to write for themselves and not just for a teacher.

“We got together in the summer and said that it would be really cool to have a class [for creative writing],” said Shunia. “Then [we asked], ‘Why don’t we just put this into action, why can’t we be the people to do that?’”

After completing the process for forming a new student organization, the girls recruited Ms. Claudia Taniguchi and Ms. Charli Migoski as club moderators.

Shunia and Lauck were pleased with the turnout for the Creative Writing Club’s first meeting. Afterwards, the group met biweekly. At meetings, members wrote poems and stories based on prompts from videos, sound clips, and themes.

“It’s pretty cool when you get to be the judge of your own writing,” said Lauck. “You can write to your own style and discover what your style is.”

Shunia mentioned the value of coming together as a club to share each other’s writing.

“People can think of writing and reading for class as a chore, so it’s cool to have a group of kids who are passionate creating their own stories, and all getting together and collaborating,” she said. “I think when you’re surrounded by those type of people, it makes you a better writer too.”

Mercy offers an upper-level English course called Poetry Analysis and Writing with an emphasis on creativity, as well.