Mr. Stewart’s Creative Writing II students got a new perspective on OHS last week. Their assignment – to write about what they saw from a new viewpoint.

I knelt next to the glass casement and squinted past my glasses, studying the object as I tried to capture its every miniscule detail on paper. I shifted my pencil in my hand and scrawled out letters, words, descriptions, attempting to be as precise as I could. That was the key; to be accurate and specific. Any detail not included in my writing could throw an assumption off and make this whole piece worthless.

The assignment in Mr. Stewart’s Creative Writing class was to describe any object within the school; each student was supplied with a viewfinder, a pencil, and their own creativity. The object I placed my viewfinder under was located in the school’s cafeteria, the casement near the back of the room that displayed various pieces of artwork from different students. I focused the rectangle on the painting and simply jotted down what I saw, attempting to describe the object with words that would create a vivid image to whoever read it.

My eyes traced over the object and thoughts morphed into descriptions, flowing from the tip of my pencil to the sheetof paper below me. I described a boat, sitting still on the surface of an azure river, palm trees standing still besides the winding bends. I included oars clutched firmly in the boy’s hands as he sat inside of the small canoe, back turned toward the viewer, a serene sky above and ahead of him in the distance. I described the cold feeling of the casement of glass and I jotted down its smudge-free appearance as well. I smiled then, as I started to wrap up my writing and my descriptions. I got to my feet, and as I walked away, I hoped that I had somehow done this object some justice in my writing.