Otterbein College News Release - Genoe Middle School Students Express Feelings Through Poetry

Contact: Jennifer Hill, (614) 823-1605 or jhill@otterbein.edu

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 18, 2008

General News

GENOA MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS EXPRESS FEELINGS THROUGH POETRY
Otterbein-Genoa Creative Literacy Alliance made possible by Chase Bank.

Genoa Middle School students will present monologue poems they wrote under the guidance of Otterbein College students at a poetry reading at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 13, in the Philomathean Room in Towers Hall, 1 S. Grove St., Westerville. These poems are the products of the Otterbein-Genoa Creative Literacy Alliance, a program made possible with support from Chase Bank.

Otterbein students have been working with the sixth, seventh and eighth grade students at Genoa since the start of the school year. With the help of Katie Daley, a Cleveland poet who has hosted several writing workshops with the children, the Otterbein students have prepared the Genoa students to write monologue poems and present them at the special event, which is open to the public.

Chase Bank of Westerville awarded Otterbein College a grant of $39,000 for the 2007-08 year for the third year of the Alliance, which allows Otterbein students teach poetry to sixth, seventh and eighth grade students at Genoa Middle School. The grant will also include field trips to locations such as Franklin Park, The Columbus Museum of Art and The Ohio Theatre.

Professor Terry Hermsen, the project advisor, teaches Otterbein students to mentor the middle school students. "Of the few programs like this around the country, most involve graduate students. We feel that our undergraduates are ready to take on this role," Hermsen said.

Genoa Middle School Principle Suzanne Kile says that the Creative Literacy Alliance has benefited her students. "Our work with Otterbein engages kids and connects the real world with the classroom," she said. "This program builds life-long learners and writers."

For more information and programming updates, visit the Center for Community Engagement Web site at www.otterbein.edu/cce. The Creative Literacy Alliance is funded in part by Learn and Serve America, administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service, which also oversees AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, VISTA, and NCCC. The Corporation improves lives, strengthens communities, and fosters civic engagement through service and volunteering. For more information, visit www.nationalservice.gov.

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