For more than 30 years, the School Literacy and Culture (SLC) program at Rice University’s Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies has been steadily transforming classrooms and imaginations across the Houston area.
That legacy continued this summer with two of the SLC’s hallmark programs — the Creative Writing Camp and the Summer Institute on Reading, Writing and Cultural Connections — serving more than 1,000 students and 70 educators across the region.
“Writing goes far beyond being just a practical skill,” said Jordan Khadam-Hir, director of SLC. “It gives young people the tools to express who they are, to build self-assurance and to imagine worlds outside their own. For more than 30 years, Creative Writing Camp has provided that opportunity for over a thousand K-12 students each summer. It is certainly a labor of love, but the love is why we do it.”
This summer, 1,016 K-12 students enrolled in Creative Writing Camp across five locations and five different weeks — including a special week on Rice’s campus from July 21-25, when students and teachers participated in concurrent programs.
While young writers crafted poems, stories and plays in classrooms across campus, 71 Houston-area educators gathered nearby for the Summer Institute — a weeklong professional learning experience focused on research-based practices in early childhood literacy.
“The Summer Institute is more than just professional development — it’s about empowering educators to create meaningful, culturally responsive learning environments,” said Khadam-Hir. “By grounding our work in research-based practices and the lived experiences of students, we help teachers transform their classrooms into spaces where language, literacy and learning intersect in powerful ways.”
Together, the two programs reflect SLC’s holistic, community-centered approach to education as students and teachers are both nurtured, challenged and inspired to grow. And with a reach extending across the greater Houston area, that impact ripples far beyond Rice’s campus.
To learn more, visit literacy.rice.edu.