Writing Excellence at Greenhill

Hearsay from Greenhill Graduate '02

After the English Dept. meeting last week, I asked my son who was home for two days, to try to tell me his story of learning how to write at Greenhill. Dorian is an incredible writer and is off to the Iowa Writers' Workshop for an MFA in creative writing. I wish I could use his words, but in essence this is what he said.

First of all, he said the main thing was having two classes -- Reading/literature and Comp/writing -- each year in middle school. The next was having "baller" teachers -- perhaps you've heard this term? It means outstanding. He mentioned Janet Cashen and Perry Degner as two huge, early influences. Ms. Cashen taught him about journal writing, actually looking at the world as possible journal entries. She gave creative writing prompts to get the kids started. He still remembers some of his favorite entries -- one had something to do with a teenaged banana. I think 5th grade was his first real connection with seeing himself as a writer. He went to St. Alcuin Montessori before Greenhill where they had "silent writing." He never knew what to write about, and often described his chair. (Yikes!) He saw himself as a math/science student at St. Alcuin.

Although Dorian enjoyed math and science at Greenhill, he became a passionate English/History student here. He definitely saw himself as a writer: Nature and Uses and Poetry were two of his favorites.

At Berkeley he worked as a writing tutor at the Student Writing Center for the last two years of undergrad. He loved working with other students and helping them to see the process that Greenhill had instilled in him. He even taught a seminar on writing -- titled something like “Five Easy Steps to Write a Better Paper" -- the seminar was full!

It wasn't long into his freshman year at Berkeley that Dorian thanked me for his Greenhill experience. He knew that the money for tuition was a huge consideration and a constant battle between his father and me. He finally understood what all the fuss was about -- why Greenhill was worth it. He saw himself not only as well prepared for college, he also saw the difference between his school experience and those of his friends and was grateful.