Red Lake County Central Students Attend Young Authors Conference

The Northwest Service Cooperative hosted the 2017 Young Authors Conference on March 9, 2017, at Northland Community and Technical College for students in grades 5-8.   The YAC is a one-day event designed to inspire and encourage young writers.

During this one-day event designed to celebrate writing, students attend sessions led by authors, storytellers, and illustrators from Minnesota and North Dakota. It is an opportunity to recognize and encourage young students for their creativity and link them with professionals who use their minds and talents creatively.

The conference began with an opening session for all students, Campfire Tales: A Scout, A Skunk and a Stew, with Bob Gasch who has told stories at schools, libraries, historical societies and, of course, campfires for over 45 years. His travels have taken him from Alaska to Texas and the Rocky Mountains to Ireland and Israel.  He has been a Young Writers presenter for 20 years and a featured storyteller at storytelling festivals in Colorado, Minnesota and Northern Ireland.  Bob also presented sessions (Paul Bunyan – Creating Great Tall Tales) for the students.

Other presenters and sessions included Scott Rolfs (Super Powered Character Creation); William Durbin (Flash Fiction); Susan Hawkinson, (Riddles, Chants, Tongue Twisters  Incantations); Margi Preus (It Could Get Crazy); Gary Harbo (How to Draw Characters out of Your Imagination); Sheryl Peterson (Who’s Talking); Roxane Salonen (The Rich Interior Life on the Introvert); Bly and Rowan Pope (Writing a Movie Scene); Debbie Hoven (Keep Your Light On and Read); Steve Maanum (Writing about Nature through the Eyes of a Wildlife Photographer); Mary Casanova (Winter Stories); Naomi Woods (A Musician Story); Ryan Jacobson (No Question About It; Writing a Story Can Be Simple!); and Joanna Dymond (Howling Yowling Growling with the Lost River Wolf Pack). 

Twenty students in grades 5-8 from Red Lake County Central participated in the Young Author’s Conference. Eighth graders who went were: Adriel Bakken, Heather Longtin, Morgan Plante, Brock Tvedt, and Jeremy Kruchowski. Seventh graders included: Serenity May, Cari Bachand, Remi Rathsack, Skylar Longtin, and Jonathon Roue. Natalie Lindemoen, Paige Olson, Gunnar Sandeen, Kaleb Fougner, and Arielle Rude were the sixth graders that attended. Participants from the fifth grade were: Caden Lee, Carly Vettleson, Peyton O’Neill, Maverick Nelson, and Jennifer Johnson.

One participant from RLCC was seventh grader Cari Bachand who described what happened at the conference. Everyone was welcomed in the gym then went to their separate classes. At lunch time schools took turns and got to look around at a book fair ending the day with their last two classes. Bachand’s favorite part was “the opening assembly because you got to hear what the ‘writers world’ was like through another author’s perspective.” She attended the session of “Draw Characters from Your Imagination” and learned how to draw a few characters and give them different personalities. She also attended “Writing a Movie Scene” session and learned how to write a movie script properly. Bachand learned how to write from a different perspective in the “Who’s Talking?” session. 

One of the things eighth grader Adriel Bakken enjoyed was buying a signed book by Mary Casanova. Bakken stated, “Her ideas are amazing!” A session she attended was “Drawing Characters out of your Imagination” where she learned how to draw goofy characters with attitude. Bakken also learned how to write short stories that leave you to think in a session called “Flash Fiction” with William Durbin. 

Brock Tvedt, an eighth grader from RLCC, learned how to draw fiction stories about animals at the session called “It Might Get Crazy” during the Young Author Conference. Tvedt’s favorite part about the conference was the welcome ceremony because they told lots of Boy Scout stories. Another session Tvedt attended was “Drawing Cartoon Characters” where he learned how to draw a cartoon snake.