Valentine High School Writing Marathon at Centennial Hall

Story and photos by Jan Knispel

Students enrolled in Expository Writing at Valentine High School, accompanied by instructor Jan Knispel and Media Specialist Janell Stoeger, conducted a writing marathon at Centennial Hall on September 24th, 2011.

Writing Marathons are a part of the National and Nebraska Writing Project experience. Ms. Knispel and Mrs. Stoeger have both participated in writing marathons that are part of the Nebraska Writing Project.

To begin the writing marathon, students had lunch on the Centennial Hall grounds; then students were to travel through the various rooms of Centennial Hall, pausing every seven to ten minutes, to write their thoughts about whatever inspired them at that point and then share their writing. The students spent an hour moving from the old time classroom through the bell room and on to other various rooms, full of interesting items of the area residents' past lives.

Although some students were originally concerned about what might inspire them to write, all found the writing marathon to be a new and exciting way to find topics for creative expression. The expository writing students were grateful to the Centennial Hall, Marge Miller and Veneta Arganbright for allowing them to enjoy the ambiance of the oldest standing high school building in the state of Nebraska.

Read about this event in the October, 2011 issue of the Valentine Community Schools newspaper.

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