Alberta 55 Plus represents the heart of mature Albertans. It stands for the idea of a fuller, healthier, more vital future; for the straightforward steps that can be taken towards that future. They promote participation and action and have generated a unique spirit of cooperation across the province.
In July, they held the Alberta 55 Plus Summer Games in Strathmore. Activities such as arts & crafts, bridge, cycling, golf, tennis and pickleball are just a few of the many that make up the Alberta 55 Plus Summer Games. With all that the Summer Games offer, it was the Creative Writing category that had students at Chestermere High School excited to get involved.
The Creative Writing event of the summer games was broken into five categories: Poetry, Light Verse, Fiction, Non-Fiction – Serious, Non-Fiction – Humorous. The idea was born that it would be a great experience for all involved if students were to be the judges of the Creative Writing entries.
Holly Wood, Zone 2 Creative Writing Coordinator and Alberta 55 plus Vice President South, said, “Judging for the Zone 2 Big Country Senior Sports Society Creative Writing entries had traditionally been done by editors, teachers or professional writers. I wanted to provide an opportunity for youth and seniors to share their passion for writing”.
Each category had strict criteria that the young judges were to use when critiquing the writings. Everything from number of words, theme and content. Entries had to have been written since August 2013 and had to be unpublished scripts.
The youth that were enlisted as judges were provided a list of judging criteria. Poetry entries were to be judge on technical correctness, use of imagery, depth of thought and originality. While the fiction and non-fiction writings were judged on technical correctness, character presentation and development, application of humour and knowledge of subject area and much more. Mechanics (spelling, punctuation, capitalization) and grammar were also, of course, very important in the judging.
Mr. Byron Sieben, English teacher at Chestermere High School says, “Creative writing is a locally developed course, meaning that it has been developed by teachers within the Rocky View School District. Courses like these are beneficial for students and teachers because they give teachers an opportunity to teach to various passions. In creative writing, students are encouraged to expand their interests in writing and storytelling in many different genres. These genres include, but are not limited to: poetry, fiction, oral storytelling and multimedia. Students are given opportunity to experiment within the various genres and choose one to learn more about, while developing their skills in the chose genre. To culminate the course, students work to build a portfolio that showcases various genres that each have learned over the course of the semester with special attention to the genres they connected with the most”.
It was students from this creative writing class that were selected to be the judges for the competition. On Monday October 19th, Holly Wood presented a $200 cheque to Mr. Siebens and a few students that participated as a thank you for being the judges in the competition. Wood commented “When I approached Mr. Sieben about having his students judge the Creative Writing for Zone 2, he embraced the opportunity to use this as a learning tool for the students. Mr. Sieben and the students put in many hours as individuals and in groups to score the entries and they did a fantastic job. The top three entries were submitted to the 2015 Strathmore Summer Games Committee. In appreciation for their hard work and hours put into the judging, the Board of Directors of Zone 2 made a $200 donation towards an English project. Mr. Sieben and the students will decide on where to use this donation”. Mr. Sieben has confirmed that the $200 will be put back into the creative writing program to be used for programming supplies.
