There are a wide variety of clubs at William Peace University (WPU), many of which were featured at the annual Involvement Fair on September 21st. From 11am to 2pm, club presidents and members set up displays on Main Lawn to promote their clubs.
There were a few new clubs created just this semester such as the WPU Dance Team as well as many well-established returning clubs like the Video Game Club, Anthropology Club, and Graphic Design Club.
The Creative Writing Club is another club that returned. It is a club which has gotten more attention in the last year. Created in fall of 2015, this club is where all the writers of WPU, be it of prose, poetry, or stage plays, gather to present and share their work.
Listeners offer any thoughts, praise, and criticisms on the works presented. Presenting is entirely optional and many students simply come week after week to listen and offer feedback. It is a small-community with an average membership of ten to twelve people but a tight-knit one nonetheless.
Like a few other clubs this semester, the Creative Writing Club has a new president. James Embree, a senior English major with a minor in Psychology who was the club’s co-founder and vice-president last year, has taken up the reins as president from former president Erik Moss. Embree states that some of his new responsibilities include: arranging and running the Creative Writing Club meetings, trying to get more people to attend meetings, and partaking in meetings of club leaders on campus.
Running a club is tougher than you might think. In regards to his experience so far as club president, Embree admits that, “To be honest, so far it has proven strenuous. I am not used to running meetings and it is harder to create appeal for it than I had expected.”
This semester, the Creative Writing Club is looking to expand and give its members new opportunities. Embree states, “This year I’d like it if as a club we could attend a public Open Mic somewhere nearby or downtown. I think that’d be enjoyable for the club’s members.”
Creative Writing Club has met on Wednesday evenings from 5:30 to 6:30 pm in Flowe 112 in the past, though meetings can stretch as far as 8:30 pm if there are a lot of presenters and good discussion. However, this semester the club’s meeting date is changing to Thursdays in Flowe 113 at the same time.
Rachael Thomas, a sophomore Graphic Design major with a minor in Theatre, joined the Creative Writing Club as a freshman in order to get to know more people on campus. She said that she loved creative writing herself, so when she heard of a club devoted to just that, she decided to check it out.
When asked what her favorite part of Creative Writing Club was, Thomas had this to say, “The best part of Writing Club is being able to express my writing and just be who I am. People in there also are open to hearing various works. It’s just a place where you can be yourself.”
The relaxed and welcoming atmosphere of the Creative Writing Club is something long time member Jordan Desimone, a junior Psychology major, also cites as the greatest strength of this club. Creative Writing Club is not the biggest or the flashiest, but its friendly community keeps members coming eagerly every week.