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Hopkins Writers Share Poetry and Prose at the Fourth Annual YAWP Reading
On Friday, October 4, five Hopkins students read excerpts from their summer writing to family, friends, teachers, and mentors during the fourth annual Young Apprentice Writers' Program (YAWP) reading. YAWP is a summer mentoring program designed to connect Hopkins students with published authors who provide guidance, support, and mentorship.
Held in the Calarco Library, the students’ work featured long-form journalism, two poetic memoirs, a dystopian sci-fi novel, and a fictional vignette. After the apprentices finished their readings, several of the YAWP mentors—including Danielle Chapman, a Yale professor and renowned author; Rachel Furey, an Associate Professor at Southern Connecticut State University, an award-winning fiction and nonfiction writer, and a four-time YAWP Mentor; and Claire Zoghb, an award-winning poet, graphic artist, and two-time YAWP Mentor—also read aloud excerpts from their own work.
“One of the things I look for in young writers is enthusiasm and wonder. There is so much of that in the room, and it’s beautifully modeled by their mentors,” said Brad Czepiel, Director of the YAWP program, in his closing address.
Since last spring, the students and their mentors have met for over 20 hours, discussing their writing and benefiting from the authors' helpful critiques and support. The passages that family and friends heard last Friday were the culmination of all this long and persistent work.
| Student | Genre | Mentor |
| Claire B. ’25 | Long-Form Journalism | Callie Ferguson |
| Asher J. ’25 | Poetry & Journalism | Danielle Chapman |
| Henry W. ’26 | Fantasy, Sci-Fi; Historical Fiction Novel | Joe Fassler |
| Rain Z. ’26 | Poetry | Claire Zoghb |
| Angela Z. ’25 | Short Fiction or Novel | Rachel Furey |
Click here to view the whole gallery.
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Henry W. ’26 read aloud from his dystopian sci-fi novel during the YAWP event.
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Hopkins is a private middle school and high school for grades 7-12. Located on a campus overlooking New Haven, CT, the School takes pride in its intellectually curious students as well as its dedicated faculty and staff.
