By Tim Melton
When we think of fall celebrations, generally time-honored traditions like Halloween and Thanksgiving come to mind. However, for Elon students, October brings with it an additional, unique celebration: the National Day on Writing (NDoW).
Since 2009, NDoW has been held annually on October 20; it was first sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English to encourage consideration of how writing factors into one’s daily life. In recent years, the event has been sponsored by the Center for Writing Excellence – a collaborative effort between the Writing Across the University initiative and Elon’s Writing Center. Since its adoption, celebrating NDoW at Elon has allowed students to achieve a greater appreciation for writing, especially outside of an academic setting, as well as to learn about the various on-campus resources that can assist them in writing practices.
For this year, there was a wide variety of events held across campus:
Events such as “The Seuss Station” and “Who Inspires You” encouraged students to be reflective of what has influenced their own writing, while “Short Story Station” and poetry events let students create original work. Throughout the day, consultants from the Writing Center ran each station, handing out free gifts, such as t-shirts, buttons, and stickers, to promote both the NDoW and the Writing Center.
“I thought that the NDoW went very well this year!” writes Julia Jordan-Haas, a Junior and lead consultant for the Writing Center. “The student body seemed to respond well to the various stations, free food opportunities, prize-winning, and general information regarding the Writing Center!”
By the way, the Student Write-In, an opportunity to work on writing projects of any nature in a quiet and accommodating space, will be taking place on Thursday, December 1, 2016. You can RSVP by filling out the Google Doc here.
Even as we’ve closed the door on another great National Day on Writing, there is no shortage of excitement for writing at Elon!