Writers Guild

There is a special place at Vandegrift where students are allowed to create imaginary worlds, and with the help of their peers, those worlds can be brought to life.

Writers Guild is a student-led creative writing club that meets every Thursday in PIT. The club is open to anyone who wants to join.

“With Vandegrift being so academically competitive and so STEM based, [it is important] to have a club that is purely dedicated to creative writing,” president Erin Houchins said. “It gives writers and the more creatively minded academics the chance to be like, ‘This is okay.’ Vandegrift is very focused on those science and math courses and those are great, but maybe it’s not the best for everyone.”

Every week, club members learn about different aspects of writing such as pacing and editing. Through the club, Houchins hopes to give everyone a chance to be heard and share their writing.

“I always feel a place of belonging,” sophomore member Molly Chaffee said. “There were other people like me who also enjoyed creative writing and wanted to help me grow as a writer.”

When the club first started, it had relatively few members and its publicity was low. Now, it has grown and even influenced the creation of a class just for creative writing. 

“It was way more people than I expected,” Houchins said. “Like it was mind-blowing to me, in a very good way. This year I’m hoping to see that trend in growth continue because I really love that.”

Though it can be difficult to open oneself up and present their work, Writers Guild makes sure that people can grow and have fun at the same time. 

“We are very much a nerd club and so it’s a way for us to find community together,” Chaffee said. “It’s very much a sense of community.”