BY EVA BROWN ’27
The start of the 2025 summer break marked another successful year of the Canon Future Authors Program. During this summer program, students and teachers came together for four days to expand their writing skills and photography knowledge through a series of writing prompts and workshops. Through the experience, students learn how photography can pair with words to create a storytelling experience, culminating in the Canon Future Authors book publication.
On October 29, the 2025 program’s book publication was celebrated with parents, peers, and friends from the community, all uniting to celebrate the authors’ works.
English teacher and program advisor Mrs. Heather McGee explained how the summer program requires students to engage in every step of the writing process to source their creative storytelling. Mrs. McGee said that to begin pre-writing, teachers engaged students through a series of prompts and questions to stimulate their minds and creativity. She said, “One of the most important things is coming up with prompts and questions that mean something to students to help them tell their stories.”
Every day of the program, a new prompt was shown to the students, which helped them write toward their final project. Mrs. McGee created reflective prompts for students to recall memories of themselves. Program participant Tiffany L. ’26 said, “We did a lot of self-reflection, did many writing workshops to jog our brains from ideas of how we wanted to write the piece.”
Each year, the publication revolves around a theme that students must follow. In previous years, the themes were “Reconnecting” and “Letters.” For the 2025 cohort, the theme was “Music”. Throughout the program, students explored various types of writing styles, including short stories and poems revolving around this year’s theme.
2025 cohort writer Edwin C. ’27 recounted his experience in the program. He said, “We were encouraged to create original written pieces, including personal memoirs and letters of recommendation that revolved around the theme of music. We had the freedom to explore any category of writing and publish a piece that matched the theme.”
The beauty of the Canon Future Authors Program is that students and teachers work together to create powerful work. Teachers enjoyed this interaction; rather than grading and critiquing students’ work, they helped one another with ideas and gave each other constructive criticism. English teacher Ms. Kali Muscarella said, “We all do the same assignment, engage in peer reviews, and have other fun literary conversations. It’s cool to take on that role instead of having to be a teacher in the after-school hours.”
When discussing student bonds, English teacher Ms. Samantha Cunningham agreed with her colleagues. She said, “I learned how to level with students on writing.”
Overall, the program was a meaningful experience, with students and teachers coming together to learn writing techniques they can use for the rest of their lives. Ms. Muscarella echoes her fellow writers when she said that she loves the feeling of when the published book comes out and families come and read your pieces. “I enjoy the positive feedback,” Ms. Muscarella said, “It’s very fulfilling; it makes you feel good.”