Mission of the Rainey-McCullers School of the Arts Creative Writing Program

The mission of the Rainey-McCullers Creative Writing program is to inspire and guide our scholar artists throughout grades 6-12 in composing creative, relevant texts of literary excellence. Middle school students are accepted into the school based on grades and teacher recommendations. High school students must audition to enter the program. Students compose in all three modes of writing: prose, poetry, and dramatic writing. Students in all grades are required to compete in writing contests throughout the year. All students participate in perennial service learning projects in which we share our writing with members of the community. The Creative Writing program conducts a Spring Reading in which all students participate with written artifacts, film projects, and/or live readings. Students routinely workshop with teaching artists in spoken word poetry, playwriting, short fiction, and other genres. Class assignments include submitting work for contests such as Young GA Authors, Georgia High School Association Literary Meet, the Georgia Film Academy Playwriting Contest, the Dr. Shanta McClurkin Patrick Creative Writing Contest, and the Carson McCullers Literary Awards Writing Contest. Students routinely win awards for their writing, as celebrated in our program updates. Our students immerse themselves in an environment of Aristotelian imitation of professionals while creating their own unique voice as writers.