YOUNG AUTHORS INSPIRED BY MASTER CLASS

For Michael Hagen of John Jay High School in the Katonah-Lewisboro School District, the Master Class in Writing held at Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES Thursday offered an opportunity to share his writing with professionals and peers who understood what he was trying to say. That’s not something he experiences every day.

Like a high school athlete working with a college-level coach, students at BOCES’ Young Authors Master Class had the chance to take their skill to the next level. Jadyn Marshall, a junior at Putnam Valley High School who attended the class last year as well, said she gained a great deal from the session because she knew what to expect.

“I knew exactly what to bring and what to expect so I was able to make the most of it,” Marshall said. “I brought an excerpt from a novel I am writing and I was able to work on flow and relevance with an editor.”

Putnam Valley’s Sara Zadrima, also a junior and a first-time participant, said she was inspired by the daylong event that included writing from prompts, working one-on-one with an editor and sharing her work with other promising high school authors. The workshop, which was sponsored by the Curriculum Center at BOCES, was led by Cathy Greenwood, a teacher, writer and national presenter on creative writing.

Master Class participants will have the opportunity to submit their writing for inclusion in a digital anthology, which will be made available through BOCES website later this year. The Curriculum Center at BOCES also will sponsor a Young Authors’ Conference in the spring for high school students from across the region. The conference will feature a day of workshops with poets, journalists, novelists, screenwriters and editors.