{photos by Michelle Dorman}
Today’s Magical Moment was one of the most magical EVER for some of our students. After our fabulous fundraising evening with Gary Schmidt a few weeks ago, our UMS and high school students were treated to a wonderful and unique opportunity – Dr. Schmidt came to SLOCA that Friday to conduct writing workshops with these two groups. How amazing that our students had the chance to work with and be encouraged by this talented yet humble award-winning author!
Latin teacher Pamela Gerhardt attended the UMS workshop, and today we have her thoughts on this memorable experience, along with photos and a few student testimonials:
Several students offered their comments as well:
“I took the middle school writing workshop led by Gary Schmidt, and it was so great! I think everyone that went to it thought the same thing. He was very funny and made us think about what goes into writing extremely detailed and interesting characters. He gave us examples and showed us how a character walks, positions themselves while sitting or standing, and how they say hello and goodbye can actually tell you a lot about who the person is. Even though how someone says hello is just a minor detail, it is these small things that make a story more interesting to read. He also left us with the words “What if…” on the whiteboard. Now that we had our detailed characters imagined, what if… aliens landed? What if… their mother perished? What if… ? I am currently writing a short story that I hope to submit to Hanging Lantern, and when I was working on it the other day, I found myself asking “what if?” about one of the characters. So I know that the workshop has already helped me as a writer.”
~ Quinn Ferrarini, 7th grade, Track A
“Gary Schmidt is such an incredible writer, but above all he is an inspiration. His workshop was an eye-opener to a different approach to story writing. He took us through an intriguing and insightful way to “gather” our thoughts for any piece of writing we wish to start. I thoroughly enjoyed his workshop, and left anxious to try out some new techniques.”
“I really liked the idea that he had to bring in photos and have us brainstorm some little details about our particular character. I definitely would not have thought to do that myself.”
~ Sam Babb, 8th grade, Track A
“Gary Schmidt was really down-to-earth and great with kids (not the stereotypical high-strung author!)”
~ Sierra Cox, 7th grade, Track B4
“It was a great experience. I love the way that Gary presented the workshop. And it definitely helped my writing in the form of character development.”
~ Jonah Jenkins, 7th grade, Track A
“I LOVED Gary. He was both witty and warm, rather grandfatherly, and made me think about things I never would have thought about otherwise.”
~ Sage Theule, Senior
“I learned that classical books are important because they ask questions that apply to life.”
~ Cormic Calloway, Freshman
“I really appreciated how Gary Schmidt took us seriously, and seemed genuinely interested in what we were saying. He considered everyone's opinions and seemed to care about each one of us as people.”
~ Hannah Thompson, Sophomore
“Gary was super kind and really made an effort to include us all in the conversation. He really cares about students and their writing endeavors, and he inspired me to love writing and to want to write more.”
~ Kate Bischoff, Freshman
One of our middle school students also wanted to share her thoughts after attending the fundraiser event, our “To Be or Not to Be” evening with Gary Schmidt:
attention. I was listening to only him, not the occasional chatter happening beyond me. Just him. The way he told his stories or adventures blew me away. I felt like I was right there. I could tell other people felt it too. Their eyes were glued to him in astonishment. They could see nothing else, feel nothing else, or hear anything else but him. I've always wanted to do some public speaking.
Many thanks to you, Gary, for coming all the way out to California to inspire our parents, teachers, and most of all, our kids. It was an absolute pleasure to hear you speak and to spend time with you, and we are so grateful for the time you invested in our students here at SLO Classical Academy!
Thank you also to Pamela Gerhardt for writing about this workshop for us, and to all the students who shared their thoughts!
