OC English students enjoy a transformative class helping high school students share stories through writing

OC’s Department of Language and Literature partnered with the Oklahoma Youth Academy to give high school students a voice by helping them develop writing skills.

March 23, 2020 - This semester, the Oklahoma Youth Academy charter school and Oklahoma Christian University’s Department of Language and Literature began a collaborative creative writing initiative called the Unaware Project. The unique experience was the focus of OC’s Advanced Writing class, which required partnering with an Oklahoma high school.

For this project, that school was OYA, and its mission is “to provide an individualized education, which encompasses academic, social, emotional and employment skills for highly challenged youth in a non-traditional setting.” Senior-level advanced writing students at OC engaged in multiple activities to help enhance OYA students’ writing skills and empower their unique voices.

The Unaware Project was first proposed in 2019 by OC faculty and alumni to encourage OYA students in and out of academics through the creative outlet of writing. The OC students were given the opportunity to develop their editing and community engagement skills. Though this program is designed for college students to teach those in high school, that does not mean the relationships between the students are not reciprocal. The OC students have been inspired by the hard work and perseverance of the OYA students who are overcoming so many challenges that many students in a charter school often face.

OC Assistant Professor of English Nathan Shank helped plan the Unaware Project and taught the Advanced Writing course for the second time since joining the university. 

“I've been reading about service learning (also known as community-engaged pedagogy) for years, but this is my most serious application of it,” Shank said. “I want OC students to write for a real audience and learn how to adapt to a real-life rhetorical context. I want the students to realize how meaningful their words can be.”

Senior English Writing major Jessica Crespino has learned from the OYA students through this unique opportunity.

“Instead of learning about theories and principles, we’re focusing more on styles of writing, especially since we’re working with high school students,” Crespino said. “These students look up to us to help them write better, so that pushes me to be a better writer. 

This semester, Shank provided many projects for students to dive into. OC students have already received and responded to OYA students’ work. On Feb. 7, Shank took his students on a field trip to Tecumseh, Oklahoma, to meet the OYA students on their campus. OC students then wrote reflections about these responses and conducted a video chat as a class with each other in early March. OYA students were then scheduled to attend and present at OC’s Celebration of Excellence on April 6 to showcase their creative work. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Celebration of Excellence was canceled, but a future presentation in the fall may occur. 

Lisa Pergi is pursuing a minor in Writing and continues to look for ways to improve her skills.

“After enrolling in this class, I feel like I have a lot to improve, especially with how precise I have to be with my language to get an idea across,” Pergi said. “The kids we are working with already have some crazy stories to tell based on their challenging life experiences. It’s kind of nice to equip students with the tools they need to tell their stories well.”