The project combines journal entries, text message poems, and other mixed media with traditional letter-writing that focuses on the upperclassmen’s personal experiences to give practical advice to up-and-comers on wide ranging subjects like peer pressure, academics, and the most edible lunch menu items.
While last year’s anthology, The Way We See It: Complete Coverage of the Nation's Capital From the Inside Out featured the work of a thirty high school seniors, Dear Freshmen is by far our largest, most ambitious publishing effort yet. 826DC has spent this year working with 64 students in 3 classes, with over 30 volunteers leading weekly, intensive workshops, forming and advising student editorial boards, and delivering lectures on not just how students can tell their stories, but how to make them useful for the next group of seniors who’ll sit in their desks soon enough.
“Each student has a distinct voice and perspective. However, the students don’t always know that,” says Jen Girdish, the project coordinator. “Over the course of this project, they’re learned how to shape their narrative voice, and realized what they have to say is completely different from the person in the next desk over.”
Dear Freshman will be designed by Oliver Munday, and -- like all student publications -- will be sold in bookstores nationwide, with all proceeds going toward program funding for 826DC. Volunteers and partnering educators will celebrate the completion of Dear Freshmen at a release party this spring that will feature live readings, non-cafeteria food, and a crew of seasoned high school authors ready to become rookies at whatever comes next.
Local writer and long-time volunteer William Bert shares his skills with seniors at Cardozo High School during a recent radio-essay workshop.