/ Center for Community and Global Health/ Write Around Portland

Write Around Portland

Fostering First Year Belonging

A Center for Community and Global Health Colloquium

In Fall 2023, the Center for Community and Global Health in collaboration with community partner Write Around Portland offered writing workshops to First Year students at Lewis & Clark.

“My own voice is good enough. I don’t have to compare myself to others or how they express themselves.” –First Year LC student and Write Around Portland workshop participant, Fall 2021

This was a unique opportunity for new students in the LC community to experience the ways in which writing can help to heal. The two-hour workshop was a fun and nourishing way to fulfill a Words or Numbers colloquium requirement. All materials were be provided (journals, pens, etc). The optional colloquium is open to all First Year students

The writing workshop objectives were to:

Foster a sense of belonging in First Year students
Share Write Around Portland’s values of respect, writing, and community
Support Write Around Portland in expanding their institutional impact

Fall 2023 Colloquium Details

The Write Around Portland Fostering First Year Belonging Workshops have concluded for Fall ’23.

Read below for program summaries and student feedback from past years and we will share findings from this year’s workshops on this page in the coming months.

Program Development

This colloquium developed out of a Fall 2021 pilot in Dr. Tamily Weissman-Unni’s Numbers are Human course. 48 First Year students participated, and 35 completed post-workshop evaluations, an additional 6 participated in a focus group.

In Year 2, 35 First Year students enrolled in Words courses participated, 19 completed post-workshop evaluations, and an additional 8 students attended a focus group about their workshop experience and learnings. Here is what students had to say:

“My own voice is good enough
... I don’t have to compare myself to others or how they express themselves.”
-–First Year LC student and Write Around Portland workshop participant, Fall 2021
“I had an amazing time.”
–First Year student participant in Write Around Portland workshops, Fall 2022.
89%
First Year students who said that the Fall 2022 Write Around Portland workshop strengthened their sense of belonging.
100%
Workshop survey respondents said they could apply the skills practiced to other areas of their lives, including school, work and friendships.
89%
First Year students who participated in the Fall 2022 Write Around Portland workshop and participant survey reported improvement in their confidence and/or self-esteem.

Read the Pilot Project Summary

Read the Year 2 Project Summary

Portland, WAP

Brown journal with the words respect. writing. community in a green circle on the cover.

Write Around Portland Offers Writing Workshops for First-Years

To foster a greater sense of belonging among first-year students, L&C’s Center for Community and Global Health is partnering with Write Around Portland to offer a series of writing workshops.

community engagement, inside-out, narrative scribe training, WAP

VIDEO: How the Humanities Can Save Humanity

Panel Discussion Presented by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

In celebration of National Arts and Humanities Month (#NAHM), Elizabeth Alexander, president of the Mellon Foundation, moderated a wide-ranging discussion with artists Mel Chin and Allison Janae Hamilton and writer-photographer Emily Raboteau about how the humanities are tackling the interconnected challenges of climate change, public health, and racial injustice, among other pressing social justice issues.

The Lewis & Clark College Center for Community and Global Health is supported in part by a Mellon Foundation grant, Healing Social Suffering Through Narrative.

community engagement, WAP

VIDEO: A Community Partner in Write Around Portland

Write Around Portland has been bringing their values of respect, writing, and community to Portlanders for 20 years. Now, with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, write around will be bringing workshops to the Lewis & Clark community, too.