Writing Center Poetry Passion Project Takes Off!

By Sophia Potter
Student Editor in Chief

The Lansing Community College Writing Center is coming up with fun ways to get students engaged in personal writing, with semi-regular poetry contests.

Twice now the Writing Center has held a haiku or three sentence love story competition to great success: once in the fall, and last month for Valentine’s Day.

“It’s fun to give people a chance to do creative writing, which they might not normally get to do,” said Writing Center staff Susan Murphy on the importance of holding competitions like this.

“We had some really fun ones for Halloween, so we thought Valentine’s Day would be perfect!” Murphy said.

This October, LCC student August Ali won the first competition with a “lovely fall-themed haiku” according to Professional Writing Tutor Emily Guild. Ali’s poem is printed below with their permission:

Golden leaves descend,

crisp winds whisper through the trees,

Autumn quiet song

This time around student Jacob O’Donnell’s won with a short story about a chance encounter between to strangers on the bus. Both winners also received a ten-dollar Meijer gift card.

“His three-sentence love-story, along with some great honorable mentions from the contest, are on display outside the Writing Center (A&S 2214),” said Guild.

“It was a joy to read through all our creative entries; we can't wait to do this again!” she added.

Stop by The Writing Center through the end of March to view the finalist for the Valentine’s Day competition, and as always to get any educational or creative writing help you need.

Ready to participate in some low stakes creative writing yourself? Check back in at The Writing Center towards the end of the month, or email writingctr@lcc.edu to stay up to date on the next poetry contest!