826LA is proud to partner with Paramount Pictures to support young writers from Helen Bernstein High School and STEM academy as they write and publish a collective memoir based on the meaningful influences in their lives.

By writing about the people who’ve influenced them, over 30 high school students are gaining an understanding that no person is an island. Over the course of eight writing sessions, students have reflected on the forces that have shaped their current identities.

How it all started

826LA’s Executive Director, Joel Arquillos, explains how we came to join Paramount on this writing project. 

“I was approached by Jennifer Lynch, Senior Vice President for Corporate Social Responsibility and Internal Communications at Paramount, who I’ve worked with over the years about having volunteers from Paramount work directly with students at Helen Bernstein–who they’ve been working with for quite some time–on a writing project. She really wanted to give the students an opportunity to hone their storytelling skills and we were more than happy to help.” 

Volunteers play an integral role

Mike Dunbar, Senior Programs & Operations Coordinator and the writing project leader, describes how the connection between volunteers and students have deepened: 

“Because I would be working with some pairs of mentors and mentee who had been working together for several years, and some who were brand new to each other, we spent a lot of our early sessions thinking about connections – between the pairs, among us as a group, and with other important people in our lives. These connections have found their way into the students’ stories, as the theme of this project is ‘We are who we are surrounded by.’”

The work continues

Although we’ve had to stop in-person sessions, volunteers and students are more committed than ever to finish this book (set to be published in June!). (For more about how 826LA is addressing COVID-19, go here.)

Volunteers from Paramount Pictures and students are continuing to work together online. They write back and forth to each other, ask how each other are doing, and are able to ask questions and provide feedback in real time using Google Docs and Google Hangouts.

With technology and the help of volunteers, students have progressed from jotting down ideas to polishing drafts. In upcoming sessions, students will be brainstorming title and design ideas for the book.

Save the date

In June, students will have the opportunity to present a publication of their writing, share their writing with an audience, and celebrate the completion of the program. Although we originally planned to have an 826LA-chapbook-release-style party, we are currently looking to host a virtual book release party to celebrate these newly-published writers!