by Katelyn Betts, contributor
Many students chose SCAD to venture into animation, graphic design or sequential arts, among many other creative degrees, but a minority of students chose SCAD for a different reason: to hone their writing skills by majoring in writing. But what drew these students to SCAD versus other schools? What made SCAD stand out as a school to focus on writing when the bulk of students are interested in visual arts?
It all starts with an interest in reading and writing. Jarrod Fouts, second-year writing student, was a voracious reader as a child and still is to this day. He loved to create his own stories. It wasn’t a big leap to choose writing. “My family suggested that I pursue writing in college,” Fouts explains. Valerie Lookingbill, a first-year writing major, and Jared Steinberg, a fourth-year writing major, have similar backgrounds as readers and writers. Steinberg loved to write stories and share them with his family. Lookingbill says, “I’ve been writing since elementary school. I’ve always loved to read and so the whole idea of being able to create my own stories really appealed to me.”
When a student decides that writing is their calling, there are many options out there in terms of schools and majors. However, SCAD offers something special, and that is a chance to explore a variety of writing forms that promote creative thinking. Lookingbill chose SCAD for its atmosphere. “I liked that SCAD only focused on creative majors. I felt that being around people that are so involved in their select branch of art would only help to inspire me as an artist,” she says. Steinberg was impressed by the emphasis SCAD put on writing as a whole, not just on creative writing. He says, “What I wanted was to get better and learn other forms of writing beyond fiction and nonfiction. This is what brought me to SCAD, it simply had everything.”
SCAD gives writing students the chance to delve into poetry, screenwriting, science fiction, historical fiction and even writing for companies and corporations. The writing program is also focused on preparing for professional careers. These skills are crucial in developing a thought process conducive to writing creatively.
These three writers have plenty of advice for up-and-coming young writers. “Write as much as you can, read as much as you can, even people you’ve never heard of, and write with abandon! Let the world open up to you,” Fouts encourages.
“Be sure to make time to write outside of classes. Also, get to know people in different majors. From them, you can find a lot of inspiration to channel into your own work,” says Lookingbill.
Steinberg says, “Writing is absolutely an art and you need to practice.”
So, as evidenced by these three writing majors, SCAD is not just a haven for visual arts majors, but for writing majors as well.