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.
Ready to Apply?
Learn more below or get started now. If you do not already have a Girls Write Now Portal account, you will be asked to create one in order to apply.
Apply Now
Ready to Apply?
Learn more below or get started now. If you do not already have a Girls Write Now Portal account, you will be asked to create one in order to apply.
- JOURNEY REQUIREMENTS
- Cycle(s) One cycle (July 1 to September 30).
- Time Commitment A minimum of four hours per month.
- Journey Meetings Attend monthly Journey Meetings. See dates listed below.
- Mentoring Have a minimum of two one-hour pair sessions per month.
- Journey Project Develop a polished personal statement.
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
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The Careers for Creatives: Unexpected Opportunities Journey is perfect for mentees and mentors who are looking to turn their passion for storytelling, content creation, or journalism into a career. Through a dynamic online course, mentoring sessions, and live networking events, you will explore various career paths available to writers today, learn practical skills to help you succeed, and discover how to build a sustainable career that aligns with your interests and strengths. Discover career paths in finance, technology, corporate communications, publishing and more!
Read: Memoir (Spring 2025)
Each cycle, we’ll close read a new book and discuss it at monthly fixed meetings. We’ll focus, in particular, on reading as writers and taking note of the ways each author crafts their story. This cycle, we'll be reading How to Say Babylon: A Memoir by Safiya Sinclair.
