Summary: Budding young authors from across Wayne County gathered at the College of Wooster on May 19 for Tri-County Educational Service Centers 34th annual Young Authors Conference.
Tiffany Armstrong. Lance Miller. Olivia Nolt. Cole Thompson.
These names may not be familiar to readers now but they could be in the future if the love of writing sparked during Tri-County Educational Service Centers Young Authors Conference blossoms into a career as a professional author or illustrator.
Over 330 students in grades three through eight representing 13 schools from six school districts throughout Wayne County including Chippewa Local, Dalton Local, Green Local, Norwayne Local, Northwestern Local and Triway Local gathered on the campus of the College of Wooster on May 19 to take part in a 34 year old tradition specifically designed to instill a love of reading and writing in young students.
According to event coordinator, Diane Pool, the Gifted and Talented Coordinator for the Tri-County Educational Service Center, the road to taking part in this very special event began months ago when teachers throughout the county were invited to incorporate writing a book into their language arts and English curriculum.
After the students finished writing, illustrating and binding their work, teachers invited select students from each class to take part in the daylong conference.
The highlight of the conference was the chance for the students to meet Christopher and Jeanette Canyon, the husband and wife team responsible for illustrating scores of the most popular children books on the market today.
While the Columbus based couple shares the experience of studying at the prestigious Columbus College of Art and Design, the media each chose to illustrate books couldnt be more different.
While Jeanette Canyon takes a three dimensional approach to her work sculpting scenes in books such as Over in the Ocean, City Beats and Over in the Jungle entirely from polymer clay, Christopher Canyon uses paint as his medium of choice to create his richly colored illustrations.
A gifted singer, guitarist and performer, Christopher Canyon also found a way to blend his love of the performing and visual arts by adapting a number of songs performed by folk legend John Denver including Take Me Home Country Roads, Sunshine on My Shoulders and Grandmas Feather Bed into childrens books.
In addition to having the opportunity to interact with two nationally known illustrators, the students also attended small group sessions on topics ranging from Write a Story to Tell to Others presented by professional story teller Donna Fetzer to Creative Writing Through Visual Art presented by art instructor Jarrod Hartzler.
The days activities at the Young Authors Conference concluded with half hour concert by the Triway High School Show Choir, which presented a wide range of music including tunes made famous on the hit TV series Glee.
According to Poole, teachers at each of the participating schools were also asked to select one book to represent their school for the annual Bookmobile Project. The books will also be on display at the Wayne County Public Library this summer.
The Young Authors Conference is part of a broad catalog of programs offered by Tri-County Educational Service Center specifically designed to encourage students of all ages to engage in the in-depth study of different fields of interest including Primary Days and Enrichment Academy for elementary school aged students and Western Field Studies for students in high school.
Tri-County also has an extensive body of programming in the arts including the Wayne Center for the Arts Childrens Chorus program, Tri-County Solo and Ensemble Festival, Tri-County Honors Band, Wayne County One-Act Play Festival and Wayne County Junior High School and High School Art Exhibits.
To learn more about the programs sponsored by Tri-County Educational Service Center visit their web site at www.tricountyesc.org.
