The Writer’s Den had started a mentoring program that is being overseen by its advisor Fiona Maurissette. The program involves Malden High School students mentoring middle school students in a Mini Writer’s Den
Maurissette explained that “it was an opportunity to give younger writers a chance to write creativity outside of a school structure.” Through the program, Maurissette states that “[the mentors] do a number of writers games and [the middle school students] share out their stories, some of them are writing poems [and other types of writing as well].” She hopes that the program will be “an opportunity for [young writers] to hone their writing skills.”
Since the program allows high school students to work with younger students, they are able to take the lead into shaping someone else's writing. “this is [the older students’] time to give feedback to younger writers to encourage them and to be apart of something [where they] can take on a leadership role.”
The students who can join the Mini Writer’s Den right now are only middle schoolers from sixth grade to eighth grade. The way a middle schooler can join the program is by volunteering for it. They would get a permission slip for parents to sign that allows them to be a part of the program.
The MHS students who are mentors for the mini-writes den are Senior Minyi Li and Juniors Christina Charles, Grace Dong, and Noor Khurram. A mentor can be anyone in Malden High school who is willing to help middle school student with their writing skills.
Maurissette praises the mentors, saying that “[they] did a fantastic job of encouraging the students and made it so that their voices were being heard.” She said, “the mentors volunteer for an hour an a half and they give up their free time to be able to work with young writers and [they are] doing a fantastic job.”
To become a mentor, you can sign up with Maurissette in the Writer’s Den
