Two Collegiate Upper Schoolers Enjoy Writing Success

Charlotte started writing poetry as an 8th Grader in Dr. Wendi Moss’ English class. An assignment charged students to come up with five original poems. Charlotte enjoyed the exercise so much, she continued writing — 92 additional poems.

“I started writing in May and wrote until the next May,” she said. “My birthday is that month, so the poems are the year of being 14.”

Using the website lulu.com, Charlotte self-published the collection of poems as Fourteen: A Poetry Anthology. She kept her craft a secret, she says, because “I was really, really self-conscious about my work.”

Charlotte continued writing, which served as a good stress reliever as she entered the Upper School. The result was a second book, Fifteen: A Poetry Anthology. She eventually showed the books to her 10th Grade English teacher, Josh Katz, who, unbeknownst to her, shared them with the entire Upper School English department. 

“It is really lovely to hear from people, especially teachers in the Upper School, who think it’s just really good work,” Charlotte said.

Dr. Moss began using Charlotte’s first book in her 8th Grade class and, through a family friend, St. Catherine’s School now includes both books in its 8th, 9th and 11th Grade English curriculum. Charlotte has visited students who have read her books in class and finds the experience mind-blowing.

“I got to read the homework they had done and the papers they had written,” she said. “To see all of them hold my book like I hold To Kill a Mockingbird was crazy.”

Charlotte is currently working on the third book (Sixteen) and hopes someday to complete a fourth (Seventeen) for a full set that documents her Upper School life.

“I’ve always felt like a good writer, but I’ve been looking for my thing,” she said. “I feel like poetry is my thing.”

Fellow Cougar Emma Williams understands the power of seeing one’s work produced. Her one-act play, Mary’s Dilemma, was one of eight works chosen out of 150 submissions for the nationally acclaimed statewide New Voices for the Theater program this past summer. 

During the two-week residency program at Virginia Commonwealth University, Emma worked with professional actors, directors and playwright-in-residence David Roby to edit, stage and produce her play, a comedic take on the beginning of Christianity, at the Grace Street Theater.

For the first week of the program, Emma and the seven other high school playwrights attended daily three-hour workshops in addition to working with Mr. Roby to polish their plays. The second week involved handing over her finished work to her assigned director, Brad Tuggle, who would stage it. That part of the process proved the most difficult for Emma.

“I was kind of struggling to figure out how to let go of my show and let someone else take over,” she said. “But it was also pretty eye-opening because what Brad and I produced together was better than what either one of us would have done individually.”

Opening night for Mary’s Dilemma resulted in some nerves but also an overwhelmingly positive response. 

“It was unreal,” Emma said. “Listening to people laugh at the jokes I didn’t find funny anymore because I had spent so much time in the script was really cool.” 

Mike Boyd, Collegiate’s Director of Performing Arts, had encouraged Emma to submit the play to New Voices. He noted Emma’s gift at writing dialogue as well as the maturity of her work.

“Emma's play was smart, funny, well-paced and well-structured,” he said. “Having a chance to work with a professional director as a guide was a unique opportunity and one that will most likely benefit her development as a writer.”

For Emma, spending part of her summer perfecting her craft at New Voices confirmed her commitment to and passion for it.

“It was an incredible opportunity that I definitely was blessed to be a part of,” she said. “Playwriting is definitely something I want to do and pursue in college and beyond. Even though it was a lot of work, It didn’t really feel like work. It felt like something that I wanted to do.”