Summer 2026
College Ready: Drafting Your Narrative
This Journey offers a streamlined path to college readiness through interactive workshops, mentoring, and peer exchange. You will move from drafting a compelling personal statement to building a strategic school list and navigating financial planning, all while receiving personalized feedback on your work. By the end of the program, you’ve gained the skills to create a polished application and the insider knowledge needed to present your most authentic self to admissions committees.
Girls Write Now Collaboratory
This Journey is Closed, but You Can Pre-Enroll in a Spring 2027 Journey Now!
Learning Objectives
College Ready: Drafting Your Narrative Community Experiences
Participants must attend one live workshop each month, and one College Chat event per cycle. Participants should also schedule one Mentor on Demand session via their Portal each month.
Summer Cycle Journey Workshops:
- Tuesday, July 28, 2026, 7 – 9 PM ET
- Tuesday, August 25, 2026, 7 – 9 PM ET
- Tuesday, September 22, 2026, 7 – 9 PM ET
Summer Cycle College Chat:
- Tuesday, August 11, 2026, 4:45 – 6 PM ET
If you’re unable to attend a Journey workshop, you must notify your Staff Lead in advance and attend a community event to make up for it—recommended options for this journey include Community Studios and Career Chats.
College Ready: Drafting Your Narrative Courses
Personal Statement & College Prep
In this course, you will explore personal narrative and strategic planning while building practical tools to support your next academic step. Designed to reinforce your live Journey sessions, the coursework provides guided lessons, reflective exercises, and structured planning resources to help you clarify your experiences, refine your voice, and navigate key decisions with confidence. Through ongoing drafting, research, and feedback, you will strengthen both your storytelling and your strategy as you move toward a polished, purposeful application process.
College Ready: Drafting Your Narrative Mentoring
Mentees and mentors in this Journey will be matched for a minimum of one cycle. Pairs will meet for at least two hour-long sessions each month.
Teach 360
Journeys in the College 360 Adventure focus on the process of getting into college and making the most of your college experience. It is perfect for mentees and mentors who are applying to college or are in college currently.
College Ready: Drafting Your Narrative is a Journey in the College 360 Adventure.
Explore All Journeys
Explore All Journeys
Explore Tour (Fall 2026)
Explore all of the creative and storytelling pathways Girls Write Now has to offer through a multimedia, multi-genre experience that includes mini courses, exploratory studios, and one-to-one pair sessions.
Teach GWN (Fall 2026)
In this Journey, members of the GWN community will develop curriculum and facilitate a community studio for one or more cycles within GWN’s Collaboratory structure.
The Career Journey: Inside Book Publishing (Fall 2026)
This Journey is for mentors curious about breaking into publishing, mentors already in the industry who want to pass on what they know, and mentees serious about building a career in books. Together you'll map the roles across publishing houses and literary agencies and get into the nuts and bolts of what each one actually does.
Explore Tour (Spring 2027)
Explore Girls Write Now’s creative and storytelling pathways through a multimedia, multi-genre experience featuring mini courses, exploratory studios, and one-to-one pair sessions. Develop skills across fiction, journalism, publishing, video, podcasting, visual storytelling, and more.
Independent Study (Spring 2027)
Create your own experience with our Independent Study Journey. Mentees and mentors meet as a pair, attend events of interest, and use coursework to support creative projects and personal goals. Along the way, you can connect with others during a mid-cycle mixer designed to spark inspiration, share ideas, and build community. The Journey culminates in a showcase where participants present the work they have developed throughout the cycle and celebrate their accomplishments together. Mentees and mentors will benefit by gaining greater independence in their learning, deepening their creative practice, and building meaningful connections while pursuing self-directed goals.
Teach GWN (Spring 2027)
In this Journey, members of the GWN community will develop curriculum and facilitate a Community Studio for one or more cycles within GWN’s Collaboratory structure. Each cycle involves facilitating three Community Studios, one per month. Mentees and mentors will gain valuable skills in leadership, teaching, and community building. Mentees and mentors can facilitate a Community Studio either independently (if they are 18 or older) or together as a pair.
Screenwriting: Crafting Short Film Stories (Spring 2027)
This two-cycle Journey guides participants from crafting a short film script to bringing it to life on screen. In the first cycle, mentors and mentees focus on developing compelling stories, dynamic characters, and engaging dialogue, learning the essentials of screenwriting for short films. In the second cycle, participants move from script to screen, exploring the practical aspects of video production, including planning, collaboration, and bringing their creative vision to life. By the end of the journey, mentees will have both a polished script and hands-on experience in producing their own short film.
Life Lines: Crafting Memoir (Part 1) (Spring 2027)
In this three-cycle Journey, writers will get the support and expert industry insight they need to write their memoir. In the first three-month cycle, participants will outline, structure their book, and begin their first drafts; in the second three-month cycle, participants will write and workshop their drafts; and in the third cycle, participants will finish their drafts and write their book proposals.
Lead Community Change (Part 2) (Spring 2027)
Lead Community Change is a dynamic two-cycle Journey that harnesses the transformative power of storytelling to drive social impact. Aspiring young leaders and activists will unleash their creativity to develop and implement innovative community-based social activism projects, supported by GWN’s rich storytelling resources.
Speak Your Truth: Spoken Word Poetry (Spring 2027)
Explore the power of spoken word poetry as a form of storytelling, self-expression, and social commentary.
