The Perpich Center for Arts Education is requesting personal writings from young women and men, ages eleven to seventeen, about their experiences with the transition from middle school to high school.

What does it mean to transition from middle school to high school? What does it mean to grow from young adolescent to teen – to find your way in a new world inhabited by many new people and many new ideas?

Tory Peterson, theater instructor at the Perpich Center for Arts Education Arts High School is collecting creative writings from teen writers, ages eleven to seventeen. Original stories, poems, essays, journal entries will be used to develop and produce an original play, “Ninth Grade Nothin’.”

“I’m looking for honesty and specific experiences related to the middle school/high school transition for this play. My hope is that my students from the Arts High School and I can create a theatrical piece that may help middle schoolers cope with some of the common worries that come with the transition to high school,” says Peterson.

Peterson’s daughter, Scout, inspired the project. “As I watch her grow and make decisions based on gut reactions and palpitations of the heart, it makes me want to help kids through this maze, give a bit of a road map, so they might at least find a clearer sense of direction.”

Students and educators interested in participating in the project should visit the Perpich Center’s website: www.pcae.k12.mn.us/middleschool.html for submission forms and more information.

The website has suggestions for subjects, themes, and writing ideas. Entries must be submitted by mail, and postmarked no later than June 12, 2009; young writers can choose to keep their identity confidential.

About the Perpich Center for Arts Education: The Perpich Center is an agency of the State of Minnesota that helps students develop and integrate their artistic and academic abilities, and educators improve student achievement.