OTE Lit Core Celebration of Student Writing

By Heather Brennan, Julie “JD” Dai, Jenna Mirchin, and Vincent Portillo

This summer, instructors Heather Brennan and Vincent Portillo taught two sections of OTE Lit Core. The Options Through Education Program, which was established in 1979, works to increase retention and graduation rates of OTE students, many of whom are first generation students of color. OTE also pairs with the Writing Fellows Program. This year, Writing Fellows Jenna Mirchin and Julie “JD” Dai worked inside and outside the classroom to help students develop writing practices, skills, and habits of mind to grow as writers.

Brennan and Portillo focused their sections of Lit Core around the theme of “routes and roads,” examining topics such as migration, diaspora, national and transnational identities, language and literacy, and community. Students read and analyzed two major texts, Percival Everett’s James: A Novel and Melatu Uche Okorie’s short story collection This Hostel Life. Students also produced writing across a variety of genres, including personal narratives, close readings, film analyses, poetry, comparative essays, and reflective video essays. In the final days of the semester, Brennan and Portillo hosted an end-of-semester Celebration of Student Writing to commemorate the achievements of student writers. 

OTE Cohort 2024

Writing for an Audience Beyond the Classroom

The OTE Celebration of Student Writing took place at the Level One Gallery in O’Neill Library. The event was a way of moving student writing beyond the walls of the classroom to celebrate student voices, identities, and literacies. In this way, the event also sought to combat any lingering doubts that OTE students may have had concerning their place in the wider BC community that may be tied to perfectionism within academic spaces, which is sometimes discussed as impostor syndrome. Thus, we hoped that through the event, students would get excited about their writing, engage with one another’s intellectual and creative work, and recognize their own triumphs as well as the triumphs of their peers, which, in turn, would contribute to a growing sense of confidence in their ability to write for a public audience. We also hoped students would have a great time. 

In addition to OTE students and faculty, guests of the event included OTE administrators, as well as colleagues from across Boston College who also worked with OTE students. In this way, the event was also designed to help reinforce the mission of OTE, which is to build community amongst students and make campuswide connections. In short, we hoped the celebration would enhance students’ feelings of belonging in their new academic community. 

Best Work of the Semester

Students displayed some of their best academic and creative writing of the semester at the Celebration of Student Writing. To prepare for the event, we had in-class discussions defining “best writing.” As a result, students selected work that they felt reflected their own identities and their concerns and highlighted work they were proud of, including research questions, ideas, and passages from major writing assignments. Students also highlighted their blackout poems, which are a form of found poetry wherein the students black out portions of existing texts (such as James: A Novel), thus revealing a poem through the text that remains.

Irma Diaz-Sena and Peer Advisor Candice Duncan, OTE 2024

What Do OTE Students Say?

Listening to student voices provides insight into the value of the celebration. Student response to the event was overwhelmingly positive. For example, Andres Medina, an incoming Theatre major, speaks to the importance of story and community when sharing his work beyond the classroom, stating: “I believe telling stories bring[s] people together, and I loved that my stories were able to do such [a] thing [at this event]. I would see smiles and notice interest as people heard me talk about my work that was displayed. I could tell they walked out with a new impression of me.” In short, Andres’ statement speaks to the heart of the event—building community through student writing. 

Andres Medina, OTE 2024

Further, William Colon, incoming Biology major, describes the importance of exerting a personal presence in one’s writing, pointing to how all the presenting students “had a piece of themselves in their work of art.” Will continues, highlighting his interest in being “an advocate for vulnerability” in his own writing. The event allowed him to showcase what was important to him for a larger audience of our Boston College community. 

William Colon, OTE 2024

Even more, Emersson Benitez-Rivas, incoming Computer Science major, describes the importance of acknowledging the effort that went into the work of the semester. About the event, Emerson states: “What stood out to me was how interested everyone seemed in our work … It was nice to not only look back at all the effort we put in, but to have other people share that joy by asking questions and showing genuine interest.”

Emerson Benitez-Riva with Peer Advisor Victoria Adegboyega, OTE 2024

Finally, Amara Hurd, incoming Communications major, appreciated the opportunity to look back at her work over the semester as a whole, focusing in particular on how her academic and creative writing both connected to concepts of personal identity, stating: “I think this is some of my best writing because of its message. I didn’t really realize how much the topic of identity would be so prevalent not only in my essays but also in my poetry until the gallery walk. And this was the theme that people most resonated with, so I’m really happy that I was able to convey a message that helped not only myself but other people.” All in all, students seemed to embrace the event and what it stood for. Fun was had by all. 

Amara Hurd, OTE 2024

Conclusion 

In short, the OTE Program seeks to prepare students for life at BC, and the Celebration of Student Writing encouraged this summer’s cohort to see themselves as already capable of the academic excellence that BC demands. Moving forward, this new cohort of twenty-one students will join other OTE alumni currently on campus and BC’s growing community of students of color. We are eager to welcome the 2024 OTE cohort into the English department this academic year through the First Year Writing Seminar, where we are confident they will shine with the same energy and talent as we have had the pleasure to witness this summer. We hope that students will look back on the OTE Program and the Celebration of Student Writing with a sense of pride and accomplishment.

Further Reading

Carter, Genesea M., and Erin Penner Gallegos. "Moving Beyond the Hype: What Does the Celebration of Student Writing Do for Students?" Composition Studies, vol. 45, no. 1, 2017, pp. 74-98.