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BPC hosts close to 100 young writers, artists for annual conference

Ninety-three young writers from seven area high schools and various home school programs attended Brewton-Parker College’s seventh annual Young Writer’s Conference Feb. 16 on the Mount Vernon campus. Shown are students participating in the visual arts workshop led by Prof. Zeke Addison (standing), BPC’s associate professor of art. (Photo by Hayley Boisseau)

By Kelley M. Arnold

Director of News and Public Information

MOUNT VERNON—Close to 100 area high school students attended Brewton-Parker College’s seventh annual Young Writer’s Conference Feb. 16 on the Mount Vernon campus. The college’s Division of Arts and Letters hosted the students who learned more about selected topics in fiction and creative writing, screenwriting, photography, poetry, visual arts and drama during the daylong event.

Dr. Amber Dermont, assistant professor of English and creative writing at Agnes Scott College, encourages the 93 students attending the Young Writer’s Conference to tell their own stories. (Photo by Kelley M. Arnold)

Special guest, Dr. Amber Dermont, assistant professor of English Literature and creative writing at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Ga., gave the students several intriguing things to think about during her opening address. Some gems from her talk, which focused on what influences people to become writers, included the following quotes:

“You don’t know what you believe and what you think until you commit it to paper.”; “Don’t think about your writing in terms of mistakes; they are opportunities. When I said 90 percent of writing is reading, 90 percent of writing is also revision.”; “Writing is about making choices… Always write about what you care about. You need to be engaged to write about it.”

Dr. Thom Brucie, BPC’s assistant professor of English and creative writing, coordinated the event. He was very pleased with the large turnout and number of schools involved this year, including Vidalia High School, Citizens Christian Academy, Wayne County High School, Edmond Burke Academy, West Laurens High School, Montessori Macon, David Emanuel Academy and various home schools.

“The event went very well,” said Dr. Brucie. “I heard a number of comments from teachers and BPC student-helpers about the seriousness of these students.”

The students attended faculty-led workshops in selected fields and the work they completed during each workshop was judged by a team of faculty, staff and students for first, second and third place accolades. The winners are as follows:

• “Screenwriting,” taught by Prof. Mark Stokes: first place, Darlene Doty (Wayne County High School; second place, Carson DeMille (Montessori Macon); third place, Frankie Sanabria (Wayne County High School).

• “Point of view in fiction,” taught by Dr. Vicki Hill: first, Evan Simmons (David Emanuel Academy); second, Brittany Darwin (Citizens Christian Academy); third, Taylor Meadows (Edmond Burke Academy).

• “Smiling with a straight face”, taught by Prof. George Mosley: first, Randal Edwards (Citizens Christian Academy), second, Kyle Amann (Wayne County High School); third, Dylan Hogan (West Laurens High School).

• “Prompted poetry,” taught by Dr. Harry Bayne: first, Danielle Bunton (Wayne County High School), second, Kristen Green (West Laurens High School), third, Yasha Tompson (Vidalia High School).

• “Tessellation Design,” taught by Mr. Zeke Addison: first, Kyle Henris (Citizens Christian Academy), second, Susan Shan (Vidalia High School), third, Kaitlin Eddy (home school in Macon).

• “Writing poetry, image, rhythm and sound,” taught by Dr. Bill Denni: first, Derrek Asberry (Vidalia High School); second, Brandi Moody (Vidalia High School); third, Dee Cowell (West Laurens High School).

• “Photography,” develped by Prof. Don Wallace and taught by BPC seniors James Wallace and Corinne Bird: first, Michael Chance Wright (Wayne County High School); second, Krista Nagnin (Wayne County High School); third, Jack Warren (West Laurens High School).

Prof. Mark Stokes, instructor of drama, leads a workshop on screenwriting during the Young Writer’s Conference at BPC Feb. 16. (Photo by Hayley Boisseau)