Pearce Center interns equip elementary students with the confidence to write

For the tenth year, interns at the Pearce Center for Professional Communication helped local elementary school students feel the pride of becoming authors.

The excitement at the April 22 book launch was palpable, especially when the Tiger Cub showed up at Central Academy of the Arts (CAA) to deliver the finished product. The book is part of a longstanding Pearce Center project where interns partner with a local elementary school, meeting with students throughout the year to help them write and publish their own stories.  

“Seeing their excitement when they got their books was my favorite part of this process,” said Meghan Greer, CAA Reading Coach. “Writing is always a challenge for students to get interested in, but this is something they were super excited for.”

CAA is a magnet arts elementary school that integrates digital, visual and performing arts into their school and classroom routines. Interns spent the Fall semester in CAA’s second grade classrooms, helping students research and write about their favorite animals. In the Spring semester, they used Adobe InDesign to design and format the book and planned an end-of-the-year publication party to deliver the books to the students.

Project lead Mary Provost, a junior education major, noticed how much the students’ confidence had grown in the short time they were able to work together.

“One of the biggest things I’ve learned is how meaningful individual attention can be for students,” she said. “Even a few minutes of focused, one-on-one support made such a difference in their confidence and engagement. A lot of the second graders just needed someone to listen to their ideas and show genuine interest in their favorite animal to spark their desire to write.”

The book project has grown and changed over the past ten years as each intern team added a new dimension to the students’ experience. This year, Provost made sure the project helped the students meet some of South Carolina’s yearly education standards. One year, the book was even translated into Spanish.

Interns on the Pearce Center school book project learn practical designs skills as they put together the book, but more than that, they learn how to encourage confidence in young students who are figuring out that they can do hard things.

“The best part has definitely been working directly with the students,” Provost said. “I loved seeing how invested they became in their animal topics and how proud they were to share what they learned. I’m leaving this experience with a deeper understanding of how to foster creativity and motivation in the classroom, and I’ll definitely carry that with me into my future as a teacher.”

The Pearce Center for Professional Communication promotes effective communication as an integral part of the learning process throughout Clemson University undergraduate and graduate education. The Center offers undergraduate client-based internships, professional development for graduate teaching assistants and faculty writing workshops.

The Center has plans for a revitalized professional editing service and recently introduced a new Visual Information Design internship to help Clemson students with visual projects. The Center’s work is thoroughly and consistently interdisciplinary, collaborative and project-based.