By Alexandria Webb
Grand Rapids Community College has a new club emerging. “Writers at GRCC” welcomes students who are looking for a space and community of people who enjoy writing and storytelling on campus.
Neveah Morofsky, Vice President of Writers at GRCC, dives into what exactly Writers at GRCC is.
“It’s like a free space for students to come in and talk about assignments that they’ve been working on, creative writing, basically stuff that wouldn’t fit into a display magazine,” said Morofsky. “Display is more focused on poetry and that kind of writing, but ours is more focused on prose (an ordinary form of writing), so it gives students that space to talk about different types of writing.”
Ethan Tappan, President of Writers at GRCC, was inspired to create this space after hearing some students say that they wished they had more of a community within campus focused on writing.
“There’s spaces around Grand Rapids, but that’s scary, because it’s outside of campus, and they’re published writers and just somewhat more professional and intimidating,” said Tappan. “So with the Writers at GRCC, the idea to form a community and space for engaging in all kinds of writing, probably mainly creative writing outside of an academic sense.”
Students can enjoy a judgment-free space for writing, whether it be poetry, short stories, novels, plays, or any other kind of writing. Here is what students can expect from these meetings.
“Always a dedicated place to talk with other people about writing, looking to host a couple of write-ins, just like writing time, at least one open mic ideally, probably one workshop sort of thing, like different writing exercises,” said Tappan.
Writing often feels like a chore while in college, and may not always be someone’s strength. The Writers at GRCC club gives students time to dedicate to the creativity of writing outside of the classroom.
“Being in the English department, you see a lot of people who are just focusing on assignments, but I think meeting people who are working on bigger creative stories outside of classwork would be really interesting,” said Morofsky. “I am excited to see what kind of talent we have on campus.”
This group can be beneficial if you are looking to work on or submit any work to Display Magazine. Students should note that they can participate in both activities.
“If you are a part of Writers at GRCC, you can still apply for Display. It’s not one or the other. We’re kind of trying to get more enthusiasm around writing on campus,” said Morofsky.
Whether you write for fun or for research, whether you create worlds of wonder or connect people through words, having a space to write can impact you in many ways.
“Creative writing and even non-fiction, and essay writing, what it allows you to do is it can make you a better communicator, because when you’re writing you’re formatting your thoughts in a cohesive way to communicate to another person,” said Tappan. “And it’s important to be able to have those skills for a lot of things, whether or not you want to be a professional writer.”
Writers at GRCC will be meeting on Tuesday from 4 to 5 p.m. at the Applied Technology Center, Room 219. To find upcoming events, check their page on Raider Connect.
Editor’s note: This story was updated to correct the spelling Neveah Morofsky’s name. The Collegiate apologizes for this error.
