Writing for a Cause

What does a graphic designer, a pet groomer and a goblin have in common? Ordinarily, not much. How about an engineer, a swan and an army base? Definitely an unusual mix! But on Friday 20th August, these elements and other randomly generated parameters were brought together in a spectacularly creative fashion. Run for a sixth year in a row, Write a Book in a Day returned to Ballarat High School and was most fortunately hosted just before the most recent lockdown was announced. Talk about the skin of our teeth!

You could feel the creative energy in the room! Or perhaps that was just the sugar buzzing through our veins? For 12 hours, our nine dedicated teams of students worked together to collaboratively brainstorm, draft, edit, illustrate and finally publish their novels – no small feat! Each group was given a list of computer-generated parameters and five random words for inclusion at 8AM and began to feverishly developing their stories. Fueled by lollies, baked goods and the encouragement of their supervising teachers – they worked steadily throughout the day; encouraging each other, exploring creative ideas and collaborating to bring their tales to life! Of course, we took breaks and one enterprising team even scheduled in a group afternoon nap, but it was a massive day of inspiration and dedication. It was especially wonderful to see members of our senior teams mentoring, guiding and encouraging the juniors to help them get their books over the line (and over the word minimum!). 

By 8pm, with just a few minutes to spare, all of our books were uploaded to the Write a Book in a Day website. What an incredible achievement and a testament to the teamwork and perseverance we observed throughout the day. This program is a wonderful opportunity to allow students considerable agency, engage in self-directed learning, explore creative ideas and extend on the skills developed in class. But also, it’s just crazy fun creating wild stories with like-minded individuals, as one student reflected below. 

The most challenging part of Write a Book in a Day was staying on task. The whole day was filled with socialising with like-minded people, making jokes and overall having fun in an expressive and creative way. Having to stay on task was difficult at times due to the whole group throwing ideas about subtle messages or new concepts for the book. But overall, it was such a great experience and it’s so good to see so many people get together for such a good cause.  I do struggle a lot with social situations but when you’re in a room with people who think the same as you and are there to be creative and have fun, it makes the whole day more exciting. So, I would definitely recommend anyone who loves creating to try it out even if you have doubts, you may be surprised with the outcome. – JL, 2021

In addition to our twelve-hour intensive, these dedicated students have worked hard promoting The Kids’ Cancer Project cause among their generous friends and family to fundraise over $4000 for childhood cancer research. How amazing is that? And there’s still time to donate too – a few of our teams need your help to reach their fundraising targets and links to their donation websites are provided below!

None of this would have been possible without the hard work, support and encouragement of so many people. The teachers who visited throughout the day to encourage our participants. The Library staff, Jac and Therese, who generously provided us with space to work and were with us all the way to encourage and motivate all our teams. Ms Wehl and Mrs Adriaans who supervised and supported. Mrs Kennedy who helped reschedule the event, enabling it to take place! And of course, the incredible students who took part – we are all so very proud of you. You were creative and collaborative, you showed wonderful determination and perseverance. You encouraged and supported your teammates. You worked so hard and your amazing books will be sent to sick kids in hospital to read and draw comfort from. Well done, well done, well done!! And you can be sure we’ll be back next year.

Olivia French

English / Humanities Teacher