The Iluminación Writing Program, generously funded over the years by The Lloyd and
Elisabeth Klein Legacy Foundation, Christine and Lon Cross, strives to create collaborative
partnerships between Chapman University and local area high school students.
July 2024 saw the inaugural class of Iluminación's Roots and Branches writing seminar.
Ten rising seniors from Orange High School applied through a process of submitting
a short essay for review and consideration. The recruitment of applicants involved
a close collaboration between Brenda Ochoa at Orange High School and Chapman University
Professor Brian Glaser. Chapman University Professor Jan Osborn and Professor Glaser
selected the finalists. Each student selected was given a fellowship to participate
in the program.
The ten students met with Prof. Glaser for two weeks on Chapman’s campus to work on
writing for resilience. Each student was given a copy of Writing for Resilience by Charmaine Pollard, a writing textbook unique in the field for its extensive development
for a method of writing as a resource for confronting challenges and setbacks.
The Orange High School students were also given a notebook and supplies for working
with some of the exercises in the textbook. The group met from 1 pm to 3:30 pm, Monday
through Thursday, for two weeks.
Students read their work in late July to an audience of about forty, made up of elders
and siblings as well as Chapman faculty, at a concluding luncheon in Beckman Hall.
In Fall 2024, their work was published in Roots and Branches, Volume 1.
Director Brian Glaser with Roots and Branches participants at the concluding luncheon and reading, July 2025.