If you’ve ever seen a table in Arts & Letters, the Stu, the hallway outside the library, or the 11th floor of the DePaul Center in the Loop with a banner for the UCWbL – you’ve seen the Outreach team at work. The Outreach team within the Writing Center is the team that organizes events and initiatives that support, promote, and celebrate the work of writers and tutors at the UCWbL and in our DePaul community. The Outreach team helps the UCWbL partner with other DePaul offices and organizations to take part in national and international celebrations of writing and tutoring.
Outreach in the UCWbL is a very in-person centered endeavor. We table for events like Banned Books week and National Poetry Month, we work with different departments and offices within the University like working with the Women’s Center for Dandelions in the Concrete, and we put on our own events within the Writing Center like our Finals Fest.
In the past for National Poetry Month, the month of April, we’ve partnered with the Library to put on events and table around the University to celebrate National Poetry Month and meet more members of our DePaul community to talk about poetry. This year, our National Poetry Month and work as the Outreach team has been looking a little different.
With the University going remote and all on-campus events and activities being canceled toward the end of March, we had to work quickly to rethink how we were going to go about staying connected and engaging with our DePaul community as representatives of the Writing Center. While some of our normal Spring Quarter events, like highlighting that applications to apply to work in the Writing Center were due April 20th, lent themselves to “virtual Outreach,” some others took a bit of brainstorming to rethink how we could adapt them to be online only.
For National Poetry Month, we decided that since we couldn’t table and engage with our DePaul community in-person to share and celebrate poetry, we would move that conversation to our social media. Throughout the month of April, we were able to share poetry on our social media platforms and it helped us stay connected and interact with those that we normally get to talk to and meet in person. We were able to share poetry that our own tutors had written and even members of our DePaul community who were willing to share their own work when we put out a call for submissions.
We were even able to engage with other DePaul offices and departments on social media, sharing each other’s posts and highlighting our new virtual endeavors. While it was at times difficult to move all of the UCWbL’s mode of communicating with our community to be online and to navigate the world of social media engagement and fighting against algorithms, people across our community really stepped up to help us put on National Poetry Month.
Not only just for poetry month, but we’ve had such a wonderful response from our DePaul community as we navigate this challenging time together and try to find the best ways to stay connected and try to find some normalcy and routine. One of the UCWbL’s usual programs, Writers Guild, has had such a wonderful transition into our virtual world. Outreach team member and Writers Guild attendee Riley M. shared what she loves about Writers Guild, particularly during this uncertain time:
“I really love going to Writers Guild. Even though I can’t see the other writers in person, it’s so nice getting to still interact with them on Zoom and share pieces. There’s really nothing like spending an hour or two just workshopping pieces with your friends. I can honestly say that hearing other poems and pieces in Writers Guild has helped me find inspiration for my own work. They’re definitely inspired me to experiment with different structures, styles, and lengths in poetry that I wouldn’t have ever thought to try otherwise!”
Even though our celebration for National Poetry Month has ended, it’s really wonderful and fulfilling things like Writers Guild that make this uncertain – and sometimes really challenging – time a little bit better. If you’re interested in checking out Writers Guild, it’s Thursdays from 6 to 7:30 and you can email wcenter@depaul.edu if you want to be added to the email list!