Postcards from My Country is a service-learning/outreach program which links advanced poetry students here at the University of Maryland with nearby Northwestern High School students who are newly immigrated and have English as a Second Language (ESOL). The University students mentor the ESOL students in writing poetry about their countries-of-origin.

Both groups of students also attend several cultural events throughout the semester. In the past students have attended a performance and had a Q-and-A with performers at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, attended a creative writing workshop together, and gone on a docent-led tour of the David C. Driskell Center. The UMD students also share a few meals with the Northwestern High School students. We culminate the project with the production of a journal of student work and a public reading.

The project is funded and administrated by the Jiménez-Porter Writers’ House, but any University student may apply to become a mentor by e-mailing the director: Johnna Schmidt. Once approved, UMD students will sign up in the Spring semester for ARHU 318C (1 Credit): Writers’ House Colloquium: Creative Writing Across Languages and Cultures.

Click on the cover to the right to view last year’s journal.