44 fifth graders, hailing from Walnut Elementary School, have become published authors.
The Diverse Voices program, created through a partnership between House of Morrow, Walnut Elementary School and Meadowlark Press, is a ten week program where Walnut Elementary fifth graders compile written stories and illustrations.
Throughout the ten weeks, classroom visitors teach students about the power of writing, music and illustrations. Once the program wraps up, the students’ stories and drawings are formed into a book - Diverse Voices.
“We give them space to write, we give them notebooks, we give them pens, and we encourage them to write what they want to write about,” Deon Morrow, Executive Director of House of Morrow, said. “We don't really give them too much guidance besides that. At the end of the 10 weeks, we put together a book, and it's their illustrations and their writings, we have them take it to the next step and read it in front of their community.”
Dozens of family, friends, and students were able to receive a hard copy of Diverse Voices and hear students recite stories at the launch party Tuesday evening at the Clint Bowyer building. Topics ranged from silly to serious, with poems about the bond between best friends and favorite aspects of snow.
“That's the beauty of the book,” Morrow said. “You can get something that's so out of left field that you don't know what to do with it, and then there’s some really profound stuff that even as adults, we deal with, and we gave enough space to talk about that.”
Linzi Garcia, Publicist at Meadowlark Press and House of Morrow Board member, said that the purpose of Diverse Voices is to give students a voice, and to build a love of writing outside of the classroom.
“I hope that they [fifth grade class] see that who they are is worth talking about and knowing,” Garcia said. “That’s the foundation, it's great to let people know who you are and your thoughts and feelings and where you come from because you all have different backgrounds that are equally valuable.”
The Diverse Voices program was launched last year after House of Morrow received a United for Racial Equity Mini-Grant from United Way of the Flint Hills. This year, the program was expanded to ten weeks and included a wider range of submissions, such as illustrations.
For Garcia, the most rewarding part of creating the book and working with students to create Diverse Voices has been seeing the excitement.
“I took the books to the class during their classroom time and showed them their pieces, and I had them write their own ‘About The Author’ sections,” Garcia said. “Multiple students commented on how cool and official that felt. I think it really clicked with them.”
A portion of the sales returns to the fifth-grade class at Walnut Elementary and House of Morrow. According to Morrow, the goal is to eventually bring the program to the rest of Emporia.
To pre-order copies of Diverse Voices, visit https://www.meadowlarkbookstore.com/ or https://www.houseofmorrow.org/events-projects.