[Not Quite an Independent Study]

Whenever I need to explain to someone why, exactly, I’m writing a 80-100,000 word manuscript in a year for school, I always end up telling them that “it’s like an independent study”. 

And it is.

Sort of.

At my school, there is a program for juniors (and possibly sophomores, depending on the project) called theStrnad Fellowship in Creativity. It is in honor of an alum of my school, whose family wished to provide students with an opportunity to explore their creative interests independently, outside of the classroom.

I’ll post the official description of the Strnad program in its own page, but basically, I applied to the program in order to write my novel. I’d already written Gunmetal Gray twice, but I wanted to make it more official — I wanted another impetus to actually finish what I started. 

Through the Strnad program, I was connected with an out-of-school mentor, Sarah Willis. She’s a local, published author where I live, and a friend of one of my favorite teachers. She’s pretty awesome. In addition to my out-of-school mentor, I’m also partnered with an in-school mentor, and they will both help me through the writing and polishing process all next year.

Come next May, I will have a novel manuscript written, all because of the Strnad Fellowship Program, for which I cannot be more grateful. I will graduate with 19 of my friends as a Strnad Fellow.

While the Strnad program does not count for a class, and requires an incredible amount of time outside of school, it’s pretty awesome to finally be recognized in school for what I love outside of school.

The official description of what a Strnad project is, and why it’s epic, can be found on the Strnad page on your left. =D