A Team from The Writers’ Studio at Clayton State Visited an Atlanta Elementary School to Share a Love for Literacy
(July 8, 2026) - As literacy continues to be a crisis across the nation, The Writers’ Studio assisted the next generation of readers and leaders by hosting a community service event called Love for Literacy. The community service event was held at E. Rivers Elementary school in Atlanta, Georgia for 1st grade students. The cause was led by The Writers’ Studio Manager, Ms. Kandice Fowlkes, and three Writing Consultants: Sennika Pressley, alumna Antonia Hardin, and Nadege Jones.
The event was multilayered and full of fun for the students. The Writers’ Studio held a two-week book donation drive via Amazon to collect diverse books for their appropriate reading levels. At the event, Ms. Fowlkes dressed in a queen character costume to engage in story time with the students. After story time, the Writing Consultants divided into groups and assisted the students with creating a book. The students were given prompts to choose from, and they tapped the Consultants' shoulders to help practice using fun verbs and adjectives to develop their books. The prompts’ topics were, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” and “describe your best day ever.” After the students finished their prompt writing—it was book creation time. The students authored and illustrated their books with one student even taking the creative liberty to write on a topic aside from the ones outlined by writing a book about Ms. Fowlkes as The Queen of Chocolate.
After creating the books, the Writing Consultants chose a person from each of their groups to read their books aloud. Everyone was excited to share their created stories, and even more excited for their final task—to choose a book from the donation drive. Research suggests that when students choose their own books, they are more inclined to read them. So, it was special for the students to grab a goodie bag filled with chocolate, and then another goodie, a book.
One of the final highlights of the day was when Nadege Jones and the teacher, Mrs. Bolds, realized that they had known each other as former teacher and pupil when Nadege was in her 2nd grade class. It was a full circle moment as Nadege assisted in the community service event to share her love for literacy with Mrs. Bolds’ new generation of students. The children all highlighted their favorite moments as well such as creating a book, reading time, and most importantly for some, “chocolate!”
At the end of this community service event, Consultants exemplified the spirit of leadership and reflected on education as a career choice, and how to fill social gaps within communities through their majors. As the strategic plan’s mission is to transform today for tomorrow, the impact The Writers’ Studio made on the students was to build their love for curiosity and creation through writing, which can lead to greater things beyond into their futures.