In collaboration with the Laura (Riding) Jackson Foundation
and Charlotte Terry,Pam Proctor created and coordinates
the Teen Writers Workshop, a series of
free half-day seminars designed to introduce high school students
to professional novelists, poets, playwrights, journalists, and
nonfiction book writers.
Since its founding in Vero Beach, Florida, in July 2000, the Teen
Writers Workshop has conducted more than twenty workshops, including three
in the Indian River Correctional Institution for teen felons adjudicated
as adults. More than 1400 high school students from six Florida counties
have participated in the program, which has received support from
the National Endowment for the Arts, the State
of Florida’s Division of Cultural Affairs, the Cultural Council
of Indian River County, and Quail
Valley Charities, Inc.
As a result of the workshops, students have published poetry
chapbooks and won literary awards, contests, and scholarships. In 2008, the Teen Writers Workshop conducted four workshops for nearly 400 students, with funding by Quail Valley Charities, Inc. Leading off the year in April was a program on fiction writing with novelist David Hagberg, followed by a summer session on poetry with poet/rancher/artist Sean Sexton. The season culminated in the fall with two back-to-back sessions on college essay writing with journalist Lisa Zahner, Executive Director of Dollars for Scholars of Indian River County. In 2010, Dr. Kevin McCarthy, Professor Emeritus at the University of Florida, drew nearly 200 students at two sessions at the Environmental Learning Center in Vero Beach.
Teen Writers Workshop, Saturday, August 20, 2011
August 2010 Workshop
Guest Writer: Dr. Kevin McCarthy, Professor Emeritus of English and Florida History, University of Florida
Topic: How to Write Winning Essays for College and Scholarships
The August 2010 workshop was funded by a generous grant from Suzanne Bertman
Sponsored by:
The Laura (Riding) Jackson Foundation
College Application Consultants, Inc.
The Charlotte Terry Real Estate Group
Of Alex MacWilliam
August 2009 Workshop
Guest Writer: Deborah Sharp former USA Today reporter and author of Mama Rides Shotgun, a Mace Bauer Mystery
The August 2009 workshop was funded by a generous grant from Suzanne Bertman
Sponsored by:
The Laura (Riding) Jackson Foundation
College Application Consultants, Inc.
The Charlotte Terry Real Estate Group
Of Alex MacWilliam
Aspiring novelist Rainey Mills (center) received honors as a Writing
Fellow of the Teen Writers Workshop on April 26, 2008. The award
was presented to Rainey by bestselling suspense writer David
Hagberg and Suzanne Bertman, a representative of Quail
Valley Charities, Inc. Students who attend three workshops
and submit a piece of writing are eligible for the award, which
is given to the top five percent of teens participating in the
nationally acclaimed writing program.
Listen
to thriller writer David
Hagberg's
radio interview with host Marcia Littlejohn on Treasure & Space
Coast Radio
David Hagberg, Forge Books
Photo Credit: Jere Pechstein
Brooke Willis Published in The Concord Review
The Summer 2009 issue of The Concord Review, an internationally recognized journal for high school history students, features an essay by Brooke Willis, a member of the Teen Writers Workshop. Brooke’s essay on Nellie Bly, the first female investigative journalist, was one of eleven selected for the latest issue of the quarterly journal from submissions around the globe.
The Concord Review was founded in 1987 by Will Fitzhugh to recognize and publish exemplary history essays by high school students. Since that time, it has published the work of teen authors from forty-four states and thirty-five foreign countries. The Concord Review lays claim to being the only quarterly journal in the world to publish the academic work of secondary students.
Photo highlights from June 21, 2008 workshop with poet-rancher Sean Sexton. Sexton showed students a still life he had painted and asked them to write a poem about it. Photo credits: Lauren Allik
Dollars for Scholars Executive Director Lisa Zahner (center) with 2008 scholarship recipients Sarah Miller and Marcel Wolff.
As Hanoi University faculty and students crowd around, Pam signs
her book, POINTS OF LIGHT: a Celebration of the American Spirit
of Giving, co-authored with artist Thomas Kinkade and featuring
a foreword by the first President George Bush (photo by William
Proctor).
"We are trying to … start a fire
within them to be the best they can be." — Pam
Proctor, The Viet
Nam News
In May 2007, Pam led a team of six writers to Hanoi, Vietnam, for
a week-long series of writing workshops at Hanoi University, the premier
university for language study in Vietnam and a growing powerhouse in
business education.
The workshops were attended by teachers from the university’s
English and business departments, as well as by faculty members from
three other universities. The workshops replicated a successful
series she led at Hanoi University in 2004 with a team of seven writers,
whose work was underwritten in part by a cultural exchange grant from
the State of Florida’s Division of Cultural Affairs.
A strategy meeting in the conference room of
the President of Hanoi University.
Things are looking up for Bill Proctor,
who takes a peek at a student’s writing sample during
a workshop on nonfiction writing.
Pam lectures on journalistic techniques to a
class of teachers and top students at Hanoi University (photo by
William Proctor).
Welcome to Teen Writers Workshop - presented by acclaimed Florida author, Pam Proctor. The workshop is conducted in Vero Beach Florida and in Hanoi Vietman and enhances the writing skills of high school students.
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The Summer 2009 issue of The Concord Review, an internationally recognized journal for high school history students, features an essay by Brooke Willis, a member of the Teen Writers Workshop. Brooke’s essay on Nellie Bly, the first female investigative journalist, was one of eleven selected for the latest issue of the quarterly journal from submissions around the globe. 
