Here at John F. Kennedy, there are countless extracurricular activities you can take part in. From e-sports to the crochet club, there is something for everyone here to enjoy. However, there is only one club where you can fully engage in fiction, poetry, and pure writing fun, and that club is the Creative Writing Club run by English teacher Brian Slaughter.
You may have seen the poster above around the halls, but if not, here it is. The club has meetings every Thursday in room #208 from 4:00 to 4:30 PM. The club was officially created in August of 2024, and since then it has been a place where students can embrace their creativity and ways of self-expression.
“Well, I felt like I needed to be more involved in the school community, and creative writing is a passion of mine, so it was the best idea for a club,” Slaughter said.
During their weekly meetings, Slaughter and the club members take part in various writing activities with each other.
“We talk about our writing projects with each other. We bounce ideas off each other. Sometimes we will play a game called Exquisite Corpse, where we collaborate on poems, and a lot of it is me sharing information with the club members,” Slaughter said.
Club members share their different interests through their writing and have conversations about them. From poetry to fiction to graphic novels, there is an abundance of different genres the members focus on to meet their interests.
“Well, we have members who like poetry, and then there are some who mostly write fiction. We have one member who does graphic novels,” Slaughter said.
One piece of writing the club produced was their literature compilation of short horror stories created for the 2024 Monster Mash at JFK. The compilation includes 5 short stories written by the members for the community to enjoy.
“We made a booklet for the Monster Mash last year for Halloween, so that’s the only time we self-published that booklet,” Slaughter said.
Not only do creative writing club members take part in writing activities with each other, but they also learn about what kind of writing competitions are out there online nationwide to take part in if they would like.
“There’s information online about different contests that are nationwide or local. A lot of them are geared toward high school students, and there are creative writing contests where they give prizes for fiction or poetry,” Slaughter said.
Since it is the club’s first year, there will be a lot more to hear from it in upcoming years at JFK. Some long-term goals for the club will be that they will eventually have a literary magazine where members can publish their writings and print issues for their peers and community members to read. Another thing is that the club could have T-shirts and gain more publicity among students.
“Well, long term, I would like to just get more of our writing out there, maybe in the future do some print issues where we can, and possibly even do a yearly lit mag that we can print out and sell and do fundraisers,” Slaughter said.
Junior Myah Jones, who is a member of the creative writing club, said, “Maybe wearing T-shirts to advertise it around the school, like people would want to join. I know people who want shirts and stuff and let us go somewhere nice to make it seem more fun instead of just, “Oh, a writing club.” Overall, the club has had a great first year. Come down and show support for the creative writing club and its members for the years to come.