Andover Bread Loaf Lawrence Student Writers Workshop

In the sun-dappled courtyards of Phillips Academy, the Andover Bread Loaf Lawrence Student Writers Workshop comes to life every summer. Here, 80-100 middle and high school students from Lawrence public schools find their voices in a three-week writing and arts odyssey, a tradition held high since 1988. The Workshop isn't just about putting pen to paper. It's about transforming the blank canvas of a page into a vibrant tapestry of thoughts, feelings, and experiences. As the students write, a remarkable thing happens - they start hearing their own voices and the voices of their peers. These young wordsmiths begin to understand the potency of their prose, and how it can echo through their own lives and their communities. The beauty of Andover's program lies not just in its duration but in its continuity. Students returning summer after summer can bloom into Writing Leaders, eventually becoming paid employees. They are the proof of the workshop's success, the living embodiments of its mission. Parallel to the student workshop runs the ABL Writing Workshop for Educators. This is an award-winning, graduate-level professional development program, a fruitful collaboration between Middlebury College's Bread Loaf School of English and Phillips Academy. It's a space where activist educators can polish their writing skills, devise innovative curricula, and kick-start interdisciplinary projects. These projects then ripple out into their classrooms, schools, and wider communities, creating a cycle of learning and growth. In essence, the Andover Bread Loaf Lawrence Student Writers Workshop is a nurturing ground for the writers of tomorrow and the educators who guide them. It's where words come alive, minds open, and voices find their strength.