Davis High should offer a creative writing class

PHOTO: SPOKE members work on new layouts during a meeting.

By Mariah Lewellen,

BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

A small handful of students stand huddled around a computer, advising each other on their newly designed layouts for their student magazine, SPOKE. With no outside help from any adults or teachers, these students have created an entire magazine that provides them with a creative outlet.

Without a creative writing class at Davis High, students must teach themselves how to do the various forms of creative writing that are included in the SPOKE magazine. This includes short stories, poems and comic strips.

“SPOKE is the magazine we need for people who love art,” editorial board member Lisa Wang said.

However, many students lack basic knowledge of creative writing, which is why some students wish Davis High would offer such a class.

“[Creative writing] allows me to create my own world and express myself,” sophomore Tselmen Annurad explained. “If there was a [creative writing] class, I would definitely take it, and I know a lot of other people would too.”

“If you learn how to do creative writing, then you can apply it to other aspects of your life,” sophomore Eliana Oppenheim said. “It can also really help out with college essays.”

DHS offered a creative writing class taught by David Burmeister until it was eliminated. However, the administration cut the class after funding for the English department decreased drastically due to Proposition 13, which passed in 1978.

In order to bring the class back, Burmeister suggests to “make a case with the administration,” providing them with a case which proves that creative writing it is a valuable thing to add to the curriculum. In order to convince the administration to add the class, students must prove to them that there is a sufficient amount of students interested in taking the class.

English teacher Eileen Guerard also agrees that DHS should have a creative writing class available for students. “I personally think that creative writing classes are a great idea,” Guerard said, “For my own classes, my challenges these days are getting a little more creative writing back into [the curriculum] in the time that we have.”