School Visit

This semester, I'm interning with Rick Walton, the author of over 60 published picture books. He also teaches part-time at BYU (how I originally got connected with him). I'm really fortunate to be able to intern with him this semester because not only is he an amazing writer, but he knows the publishing field really, really well (aka: LOTS OF CONNECTIONS!) He personally knows almost every writer and illustrator who lives in Utah, plus knows editors, agents, publishers, etc. which might influence my own writing career someday...

For my internship, Rick has been having me do random tasks each week, but my favorite "assignment" occurred two Friday's ago. Rick asked if I'd accompany him on one of his school visits! Because he has so many picture books published, he is often invited by elementary schools to come and speak. This time, Midway Elementary School in Utah invited him as their guest author.

We (Rick, me, and one other teacher Rick invited along) left around noon and drove up the canyon to Midway, a small town in the mountains. The elementary school had between 500-600 kids and brought me back in time when I was 7 or 8 and had school assemblies in the gym. I honestly didn't have to do anything except help Rick set up a little and then sit in the corner and watch the kids file in. Rick's powerpoint presentation was hilarious and extremely entertaining, which kept the kids' attention for most of the time. I honestly don't know how he or any educator manages to keep their attention for so long, or answer their crazy questions.

It was really fun being back in elementary school for an afternoon and interacting with children again, but it was also a HUGE learning experience for me. When I say I want to write for children, I'm talking about middle grade and young adults...I don't think I have what it takes to write picture books and then visit children in the schools! Frankly, the idea scares me to death! But it was a lot of fun to see how school visits work and to see how much the children loved Rick's books. Just doing anything that influences children, whether their age 8 or age 14, is pretty neat to think about. I still want to be a writer, even if it takes years and years of writing before I ever get published. Visiting the school with Rick Walton was just another helpful reminder of what I love and why.