The University of Rhode Island will be holding a National Day on Writing on Oct. 5, collaborating with three on-campus organizations to put together activities and contests throughout the day.
Writing Across URI, the Writing Center and the department of writing and rhetoric are preparing to hold the event in the Memorial Union Ballroom from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Students and writing classes are encouraged to participate in writing-related activities happening throughout the day. Some include writing on a graffiti wall and learning how to write with the intention to inspire change. Students will also have the chance to enter a raffle to win prizes.
Writing and Rhetoric Assistant Professor Stephanie West-Puckett, a co-organizer of this event, went into more detail about how the day will go. Students can arrive at any time, where they will receive a “passport” to take to each station. They can go to any station they want but are encouraged to participate in two or more activities. As soon as they do so, they can enter to win prizes. Director of Writing Across URI Heather Johnson, another co-organizer, said that these prizes include Beats headphones and an Apple Watch.
Johnson and West-Puckett both highly recommend that students attend this event, even if their majors are not writing-related. “Writing is one of the top effective skills employers are looking for,” Johnson said.
Johnson explained that there are opportunities for all students to improve their writing.
She also described this event as “a nice opportunity for us all to write together as a community.” There will be plenty of games and challenges for students to participate in.
According to West-Puckett, the wall is the most popular attraction. She claims that this “graffiti wall” is actually just a large whiteboard, but students are welcome to write anything they want on it to express themselves.
At the end of the event, the goal is to get everyone who attended to write a total of 10,000 words. West-Puckett said they will ask halfway through the event for everyone to give an estimate of how many words they think they wrote, and then again at the end to get an approximate final number.
“I’m excited to be part of NDOW because writing is a vital part of everyone’s lives,” said Nate Vocarro, an English and writing and rhetoric double major. “Everyone is a writer in some capacity and it’s a great day to see writers in action.”
The National Day on Writing is celebrated throughout the country every year on Oct. 20, for the past 10 years. According to their website, the National Day of Writing was founded by the National Council of Teachers of English based on the idea that writing is critical to literacy and needs greater attention.
“NDOW is a national effort to help bring all types of writing we engage in our daily lives – whether it be e-mails, texts or academic papers – into visible and accessible spaces,” explained Vocarro.
Johnson and West-Puckett both agree that there is simply no escaping the importance of writing in everyday life. Johnson hopes that students will grow to appreciate the art of writing with this event. “It can show students what the word ‘writing’ actually encompasses,” said Johnson.
West-Puckett thinks of it as “the opportunity to see that writing is not just words on a page.”
Students are encouraged to follow and post with the hashtags #uri and #whyiwrite, and also to follow the username NDOW_URI on Twitter while the event is going on.