EmersonWRITES is so much more than a program that offers free creative writing workshops to local Boston students. Those weekend workshops allow teenagers in the greater Boston area to refine their writing skills, practice their freedom of expression, and gain priceless mentorship from Emerson’s graduate students and professors.
So, what is EmersonWRITES?
Guided by the principle that “writing is essential to intellectual engagement, self-representation, and access to opportunity,” Emerson graduate students founded EmersonWRITES over a decade ago. From October through December, students in grades 8-12 in Boston and nearby towns are eligible to apply for this free college pathway creative writing workshop. Here, they have the opportunity to explore genres like fiction, nonfiction, spoken word poetry, fantasy, and more. The courses, which are offered over the weekend, are available both in person on Emerson’s Boston campus and online. The program culminates in January of the following year with an open mic showcase and the book launch of SPINE, an anthology of student work created during the program.
Through hands-on workshops and exercises, EmersonWRITES “seeks to foster individual voice, engagement with the world, and empowerment through the written word.” But one of the best parts of the program? All courses are taught by current MFA or MA graduate students who have been trained to teach college-level writing.
One of these graduate student instructors is Aniaha Ortiz, a Transformational Leaders Fellow and Creative Writing MFA ‘26, originally from Brooklyn, New York. We sat down with Aniaha to learn more about her experience as an EmersonWRITES instructor and how the program has impacted both her and her students’ career trajectories.
Finding EmersonWRITES
“When applying to Emerson, I found the EmersonWRITES program and fell in love with the intentions behind [it],” Aniaha says. “It reminded me of an after-school program I did in high school: viBe Theater Experience,” which is “a creative writing and performing arts program designed for young women of color in New York City to express themselves through the development of their work and a showcase.”
Aniaha expressed how “being a student of [viBe] shaped [her] confidence in terms of writing and performing [her] work.” She went on to say, “As an introverted and oftentimes shy person, younger me excelled in that artistic environment in ways that felt unattainable. I wanted to do the same thing for high school students who are just like me; who share similar ethnic and racial backgrounds to me as well.”
After completing WR 600: Teaching College Composition, a requirement to interview to become an EmersonWRITES instructor, Aniaha was eager to continue that legacy and start teaching!
Balancing Life as an Instructor and Student
As an EmersonWRITES instructor, Aniaha co-taught a workshop focused on spoken word poetry alongside fellow graduate student Aubrie Dickson. When asked if it was overwhelming to juggle work as a full-time graduate student and writing instructor, Aniaha emphasized that the workshops were actually a reprieve from her usual schedule. “It helped that EmersonWRITES meetings were held on the weekends,” she explains. “It gave me time to decompress from my other responsibilities. Plus, most of the material I’ve learned in my Emerson workshop(s) or literature courses were applicable to how I wanted to develop or reshape our workshops for EmersonWRITES,” she says.
Soon, Aniaha began to notice that the influence of teaching and informing writing had a reciprocal impact as well. “ I could not falsely encourage my students to be proud of their work and perform it at our showcase without doing it myself,” she shared. “Teaching has influenced me to promote my own writing on my social media, something I was deathly terrified of doing for some time now. While I am still working on actively performing my pieces, building my social media presence through my poetry has been a great first step in becoming confident in my writing and myself all over again.”
Building Confidence
But Aniaha has had to work to foster this confidence, both in herself and within her student writers. She found that the most effective tactic in her workshops is to present students with options, letting them choose their own path. “We are always advised to make changes based on other people’s interpretations of our work,” she explains. “But it’s helpful to reiterate to students that they have a choice to decide which feedback they would like to incorporate. It reminds them that they have multiple paths to take within their writing without needing to completely deviate away from the original idea.”
“One of my favorite prompts to ask students is “How do you connect to your audience? How would you like your audience to connect with you?” This prompt helps students connect to the intent behind their writing, which Aniaha says helps them learn to trust their instincts. “Once they can confidently trust their intuition and creative vision, their revision process runs smoother because their vision becomes more clear.”
Looking Forward
When Aniaha decided to earn her MFA in creative writing at Emerson, she knew she wanted to pursue a career in higher education with the aim of becoming a creative writing professor, specifically in poetry.
But following her time as an EmersonWRITES instructor, she shared that she’s now open to teaching middle and high school students as well, although the idea originally terrified her! “I’ve also worked as a summer camp counselor for several years now, and a few of my campers, along with my EmersonWRITES students, consistently remind me that teaching creative writing to young poets of color has been, and will forever be, such a fulfilling experience for me,” Aniaha says.
Future Advice
When asked what she hopes her students carry with them after their EmersonWRITES program ends, Aniaha shares that she hopes her students “always remember to be curious and advocate for their work. Be curious about other writing styles, forms, and poets. Take the time to learn about them.”
“Always ask questions if you’re lost,” she adds. “There’s no shame in being confused on something you’re not well versed in yet. When it comes to writing, we all reserve the right to advocate for our work and the vision we have for it; you are the one constantly reshaping and breathing life into it.”
Want to learn more about getting involved in EmersonWRITES? Visit the EmersonWRITES website or email emersonwrites@emerson.edu.
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