Fall 2025
Perspectives on Media
This Journey is designed to help you build the skills and confidence needed to thrive in today’s ever-evolving media landscape. We’ll explore how stories are created, shared, and consumed across different platforms, and you’ll hear directly from media professionals about their experiences working in the field. Along the way, you’ll strengthen your ability to think critically about the role media plays in shaping our world, while also experimenting with your own creative voice. By the end of the Journey, you’ll develop and present a pitch for a media project of your choice.
Girls Write Now Collaboratory
This Journey Is Closed, but You Can Pre-Enroll in a Fall 2026 Journey Now!
Learning Objectives
Perspectives on Media Community Experiences
Mentees and mentors in this Journey must attend the monthly 90-minute Journey Meetings and the Pitchfest.
Journey Meeting Dates:
- Monday, November 10, 2025, 4:30 pm ET
- Monday, December 1, 2025, 4:30 pm ET
- Monday, January 12, 2026, 4:30 pm ET
Pitchfest:
- Saturday, January 24, 2026, 12 pm ET
If you’re unable to attend a Journey Meeting, you must notify your Staff Lead in advance and attend a community event to make up for it—strongly recommended options include Exploratory Community Studios, College & Career Chats, and Salon Experiences.
Perspectives on Media Courses
Perspectives on Media
This course is designed to help develop the skills and understanding needed to successfully pitch a media project. Specific topics range from elevator pitches to pitch decks.
Perspectives on Media Mentoring
Mentees and Mentors in the Perspectives on Media Journey will be matched for one cycle. Pairs will meet for at least two hour-long sessions each month. Mentees will work on a pitch for a media project, while mentors will offer support and guidance throughout the process. This Journey is open to both Mentor-Mentee pairs and Peer-to-Peer pairs.
Journey Teaching Artist
Journeys in the Multimedia 360 Adventure focus on creating in particular medium. It is designed for mentees and mentors who want to express ideas with digital and audio techniques. Journeys in the Journalism 360 Adventure focus on building skills to investigate, analyze, and write about world events. It is recommended for mentees and mentors who want to embrace journalistic integrity.
Perspectives on Media is a Journey in the Multimedia 360 & Journalism 360 Adventures.
Explore All Journeys
Explore All Journeys
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.
Indigenous Poetry (Spring 2027)
Explore the rich traditions and contemporary voices of Indigenous poetry. Mentees and mentors will read and discuss poems by Indigenous poets that reflect identity, culture, land, community, resilience, and storytelling. Alongside close reading, participants will write original poems inspired by these works, experimenting with imagery, voice, form, and personal expression. Through discussion and creative practice, they will explore how poetry can honor heritage, preserve stories, and illuminate both personal and collective experiences. Mentees and mentors will take away a deeper appreciation of Indigenous poetic traditions, strengthened creative writing skills, and a greater understanding of poetry as a tool for connection and expression.
Journalism: The Art of Profile Writing (Spring 2027)
Every person has a story to tell, and profile writing offers a way to share those stories with the world. In this Journey, mentees and mentors will learn how to build trust with subjects, conduct respectful interviews, and maintain the writer’s role as observer rather than confidante. The Journey emphasizes a holistic approach that considers subject, writer, and reader.
AI & Technology: Protopian Futures (Spring 2027)
This Journey explores the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence and emerging technologies through a protopian lens—focusing on how innovation can be intentionally shaped toward more equitable, creative, and human-centered futures. Mentees and mentors will examine the possibilities and limitations of AI, engaging in discussions and hands-on explorations that highlight both current applications and future potential. Through critical reflection and creative experimentation, mentees and mentors will consider how technology can be designed and used to expand opportunity, deepen connection, and support more just and imaginative ways of living and creating. Mentees and mentors will strengthen their critical understanding of AI and emerging technologies while deepening their perspective on ethical innovation and human-centered tech practices.
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.
Everything Is a Story: Nonfiction that Reads like Fiction (Fall 2026)
In this Journey, mentees and mentors will explore the ways in which creative storytelling techniques can be applied to nonfiction writing of all kinds, from memoir and personal essay to op-ed and how-to articles. We will dive into what makes a story—from structural archetypes to writing that flows—and learn how to harness the power of story to make nonfiction compelling and transformative.
Wild Ideas: Nature, Science & Creativity (Fall 2026)
Created in honor of Helen Ghiradella’s pioneering work at the intersection of science and creativity, this Journey invites mentees and mentors to explore the natural world through the complementary lenses of scientific inquiry and artistic expression. Inspired by Ghiradella’s legacy, and through close observation, research, and reflection, they will investigate the forms, patterns, and processes found in nature while creating an original project—through writing, visual art, media, performance, music or another creative form—that celebrates the connections between nature, science, and creativity.
The Career Journey: Inside Book Publishing (Fall 2026)
Discover the various roles in publishing that bring books to life, from editorial and design to marketing, publicity, production, and more. Through conversations with publishing house and literary agency professionals, participants will gain insight into the nuts and bolts of a book's journey from concept to publication.
