This summer, two Friends Central School students will travel to Iowa City to attend the University of Iowa Young Writers’ Studio, a prominent program for teenage writers. The University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop for graduate students is one of the most prestigious programs in the world, and has produced 28 Pulitzer Prize winners since its inception in 1936.

Rising senior Madi Archard, an Ardmore resident, and rising junior Carlos Price-Sanchez, a resident of Wynnewood will join over 100 high school students from around the country for a two-week creative writing experience. During this time, they will sign up for a number of workshops, explore the works of well known writers, and write (and re-write!) their own poetry, fiction, and non-fiction writing. The workshops are taught by experienced high school teachers and college professors, many of whom are published writers themselves.

“My hope by the end of the two weeks is that I will be able to discover a writing style I can call my own,” says Carlos, who will be attending the poetry workshop. “Poetry can do a lot of good in the world. It gives well deserved weight to topics that sometimes get overlooked.”

Madi, who spent part of last summer working on her writing at The Oxford Tradition writing program in Oxford, England, is looking forward to continuing her growth as a prose writer.  “FCS has taught me how to be more analytical and technically proficient in my literature and history essays,” she says, “but I also found this to be very helpful in my prose. I really want to learn how to simplify my writing while maintaining a sense of honesty.”