OutWrite, a free, volunteer-based creative writing program, strives to give access to creative writing to students across the nation. Created during the COVID-19 pandemic, OutWrite was meant to provide a creative space for elementary-age children to explore healthy self-expression and the artistic realm during lockdown. With this mission, OutWrite continues this mission in continually encouraging students’ exploration of creative writing while also promoting conducive emotional outlets, self-awareness, growth of imagination, and advancement in skill.
Our Mission
Our Mission
OutWrite, a free, volunteer-based creative writing program, strives to give access to creative writing to students across the nation. Created during the COVID-19 pandemic, OutWrite was meant to provide a creative space for elementary-age children to explore healthy self-expression and the artistic realm during lockdown. With this mission, OutWrite continues this mission in continually encouraging students’ exploration of creative writing while also promoting conducive emotional outlets, self-awareness, growth of imagination, and advancement in skill.
What we believe
We believe that all students should be able to encounter and explore creative writing without limitation of individual constraints. Many of our teachers started with basic creative writing lessons all the way back in elementary school, leading them to their places as “writers” and passions for creative writing now as high schoolers. Sharing this love and exploration of the genre through accessible and fun online classes is one of our primary goals.
While this was especially important for us during the COVID-19 quarantine to give isolated students an emotional outlet and a space for artistic discovery, OutWrite started several other initiatives as the COVID-19 quarantine and the transition back to in-person life slowly ended. These initiatives are dedicated to making the access to creative writing and imaginative thinking possible for students of all demographics, including those who are underprivileged, bilingual, learning English as a second language, and in temporary homes.
Meet the Team
Justine Droullard
President & Teacher
Justine Droullard is a senior at the Orange County School of the Arts in the Creative Writing Conservatory. She enjoys writing short stories and novels, and her work has been nationally recognized by the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. In 2018, she self-published her first novel and hopes to publish another one in the future! She also enjoys spending time with friends, traveling, and painting.
Grace Chung
Vice President & Teacher
Grace Chung is a junior at the Orange County School of the Arts, and an alumna of the Iowa Young Writers Studio. She enjoys all kinds of writing, but likes screenplays in particular. Her writing has been recognized by the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers, and in her free time, she likes to make clay sculptures and test out her stationery.
Josh Tian
Secretary
Josh Tian is a senior at Beckman High School. He enjoys reading technical books and is passionate about engineering and computer science. Josh is a Pokémon fanatic and an avid GamePigeon word game player who loves to spend time with family and pets, playing music, traveling, watching anime, and reading manga.
Haley Kleinman
Teacher
Haley Kleinman in a senior at Orange County School of the Arts. She is a student in the Integrated Arts Conservatory, working primarily in creative writing and acting. Recently, she published her first novel, a dystopian fiction called A World of Shadows, and has been recognized by Scholastic Art and Writing. When she isn’t writing, she’s performing in dance competitions, working on her Mock Trial material, or trying new chocolate candies.
Shining Chen
Teacher
Shining Chen is a sophomore at Orange County School of the Arts in the Creative Writing Conservatory. She enjoys writing horror and realistic short stories. She also finds joy in engineering and working with children.
Courtney Hines
Teacher
Courtney is a senior at the Orange County School of the Arts in the Creative Writing Conservatory! Short stories are her favorite thing to write, but she loves to read even more. Courtney is most involved in activist writing, and has published several articles to push accessible co-ed programs and advocate for student equity. Taking care of others is very important to her.
May Allen
Teacher
May Allen is a senior at Beckman High School. She enjoys reading and writing creative fiction, and her favorite genres are fantasy and futurism. She especially loves reading graphic novels and comic books, and has a passion for all things art and literature. In her free time, she enjoys drawing, going to the beach with friends, and playing with her pet chihuahua.
Alice Ahn
Teacher
Alice Ahn is a sophomore at Portola High School, where she is a social media manager and staff writer for the Portola Pilot. Though she has long been a devout lover of the literary and language arts, she only recently uncovered her deeper interest in writing. When Alice is not tending to one of her dozens of unfinished writing projects, she enjoys reading books about the mundane and articles on the arts.
Emily Kim
Teacher
Emily Kim is a junior at the Orange County School of the Arts in the Creative Writing Conservatory. She enjoys poetry and novel writing. Her poetry has been published in two online magazines, and she also founded a literary magazine, Persimmon Review, in 2023. Outside of writing, she likes to read, spend time with her dog, and try different types of food.
Paige Hines
Teacher
Paige Hines is a sophomore at the Orange County School of the Arts in the creative writing conservatory. She enjoys all forms of writing, but in particular, she likes poetry and screenwriting. In her free time, she loves to read, spend time with friends, garden, and travel.