How would you make the world’s most disgusting sandwich? With creativity running through eager minds, the members of the Mandala Creative Writing Club rush to answer the prompt. This is what a typical meeting for the Mandala Creative Writing Club looks like filled with writing and discussion.

As club President and Editor, Lana Colaco leads each meeting and provides unique writing prompts. In addition, she is responsible for putting together all the submissions and making final decisions regarding each publication. Colaco’s main goal is to encourage members to bring creativity into their everyday life. She stresses the importance of taking a break from the pressure of high school, and allowing yourself to write creatively.

“In high school, we don’t get the chance to do a lot of creative writing, so Mandala is a place where you can write whatever you want,” Colaco said. “There’s no rubric to follow. It’s just a free space to write and work on art.”

The main goal of the club is to produce their yearly publication. Club members fill their publications with a variety of art and writing. Each publication has around 90 pieces and submissions can be anything. Some examples include short stories, art work, memoirs, poetry, and screen plays. The club is open minded to all submissions and styles. Check out the 2020 “Art in the Time of Pandemic” publication https://issuu.com/smchs_eagles/docs/art_in_the_time_of_pandemic.

Each piece in the publication is different. Colaco enjoys the  diversity of writing and how she continues to be inspired by her peers.

“It’s so inspiring to see how your peers think and write,” said Colaco. “There are so many different writing styles, so you can really see all the diversity between how every student writes.”

Although the new pandemic has brought challenges, exploring creative writing still lies at the heart of the club. The atmosphere is an open space because everyone thinks differently, which is Colaco’s favorite part.

“My favorite memory of the club was when Mr. Fleming, our club advisor, showed us a picture of an ant on top of a sugar cube,” said Colaco. “We all had to write a short story about the picture in front us. At the end, we shared our stories and it was so amazing to see how many different ideas and stories this one picture could generate.”

Colaco advises students to come and try because even if you might not think you think you like. You won’t ever know until you try and you might realize it’s for you.

“The best thing about creative writing is that everyone has a different story to bring to the table because everyone’s experiences are unique to themselves,” said Colaco.