School clubs are an amazing way to develop collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving, and leadership skills. All schools have something unique to offer, and at Nelson, it’s a writing club. Participants write under a different theme every four weeks, and with this writing, have the opportunity to potentially have their stories gain coverage.  

Nick Ritter, co-captain of the literary arts club, explains the expectations- “It can be a short story, fantasy, poem… pretty much any kind of writing you want. And we encourage you to make a writing piece based off the sub prompt, or the prompt we give you. At the very end of the round (the four weeks), we present them to each other. “ This club seems to be a great way to grow your writing abilities in a space with others who are trying to do the same. 

The main focus of the club is to prepare people for a poetry slam, which is a poem competition in April. Poets from Nelson compete for who gets to go to the East side, where numerous schools come together from the East side of Portland to compete. The winner goes on to Verselandia, which is an official event that takes place in Portland City. 

He adds “And it gets posted on youtube and they write stories about it.”

To join this club, students can talk to any English teacher- Mrs Ackerman, Mrs Thuston, and Mrs Smith. But students are more than welcome to come to a meeting or two simply to gauge whether they want to move forward in it, no commitment necessary. Meetings are every Wednesday. 

Ritter says “ You don’t have to be good at writing, cause this club is not only about doing writing but also improving writing. So if you like writing, you can come in and improve over the year. We have constructive criticism, peer review, and we help you improve and evolve your writing.”

Sophomore Tatiana Harris gives her reason for joining- “Cause I have a passion for writing and poetry, and it is the one place where I can finally feel vulnerable and express myself…. And snacks.”