Basking Ridge Finch Writing Club Aims To Foster A Love For Writing
BASKING RIDGE, NJ — The Finch Writing Club, founded by a Basking Ridge teacher, her daughter, and a friend, aims to foster a love for writing among students from fourth to twelfth grade.
“We want them to fall in love with it, because once you fall in love with it, then you have it for life,” said William Annin Language Arts Teacher Jill Stedronsky to Patch.
Stedronsky started the Finch Writing Club in the summer of 2023 with her daughter Mackie Burt and writer Christian Johnson as an after-school creative writing program/extracurricular for young adults. Through creative writing, their goal is to guide young people to communicate more clearly and honestly with themselves and with each other.
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“I think, not to get so philosophical. If every human being wrote daily, how would we speak to each other? We would be much more reflective human beings,” said Stedronsky.
Stedronsky became passionate about writing when her daughter Mackie and son Jack both began writing. At 16 years old, Mackie wrote her first novel, Above, which would later go on to be published by Carthay Circle Publishing Co. and secure a television deal.
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Through the process of helping Mackie write her novel, Stedronsky said she found her own love of writing.
“It wasn’t just about writing a novel as much as like I was just falling in love with writing,” said Stedronsky.
Looking to instill the same passion and love for writing in students in the area prompted Stedronsky, Burt and Johnson to start their club.
The Finch Writing Club offers various workshops, including creative nonfiction and a more intensive “Weekender” program for serious writers. The club emphasizes a non-linear, joyful approach to writing, contrasting traditional school methods. It also publishes a magazine and maintains a community atmosphere.
Stedronsky, Burt, and Johnson all pull from their own writing experiences and knowledge to help guide the students in the Club.
Along with teaching in Bernards Township, Stedronsky adjuncts at Drew University and is a teacher consultant for the National Writing Project — which is a professional development for teachers of English in the country and is rooted in 250 different Universities around the country.
Johnson is a 2015 graduate from Boston College and is currently working on his second novel, “MoonPies at the End of the World.”
The workshops seem to work really well, since the students are all smiles, said Stedronsky.
“The kids are happy, and the parents have been really extraordinarily happy, because of how much the kids are loving it, which just makes my heart happy.”
For more information on the Finch Writing Club visit finchwritingclub.com or follow on instagram.com/finchwritingclub or facebook.com.
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