Saturday, April 12, Cape Fear Voices and Teen Scene held an outstanding awards banquet not only to raise money but to honor their writers. The mission of the banquet was to motivate young teens to write and adults to continue to write. Jan Morgan-Swegle, one of the editors for Cape Fear Voices, stated “It is the only fundraising event we do and we do it to be able to purchase equipment that will help our teens do better in their writing skills and in school. We also do it to showcase the talent of young and old that is resident in the Cape Fear area.”
There are several generous sponsors that help make this night a success. Sponsors included the Brunswick Art Council, the NAACP, DrawFire, Duke Energy, Signature Wealth Strategies, Farm Bureau, Mari Lou Wong Chong, and First Bank. We also had some new sponsors including JBG Painting, Z’s barbershop and Judy Budd with CONNECT, Councilman Bill McHugh, Mimi and Papa’s Gourmet Popcorn and Sylvan Learning Center. We are entirely grateful to all these sponsors who support the arts and the youth and adults that are striving to pursue their writing.
The Cape Fear Voices Teen Scene awards banquet is so much more than just an event where people win prizes and sponsors donate money. It is an opportunity for those who have a passion for writing to be recognized and celebrated even though people may have told them to quit.
Mr. Decker created Teen Scene to help students improve their writing skills and to understand that no matter what job we end up doing as adults, writing in some form will be a part of that job and we need to know how to do it well. This past school year, we expanded into improving our presentation skills.
This year I partook on the process of creating this event and it is safe to say it was an experience like no other. Working with such an intelligent and dedicated group of individuals ranging from teens to adults was truly remarkable. Throughout this entire process we worked as a team not as competitors, we strived to lift one another not to bring each other down, and focused on critiquing one another not to sugar coat our mistakes. While the planning for this event was definitely work I learned so much that I will strive to uphold it in my future endeavors.
Working with this group has also helped me to come out of my shell and use my voice to represent both myself and others. My mission as a journalist is to travel the world fighting to reach the voices of the unheard and I strongly believe that having gone through this experience has prepared me for that goal.
Cape Fear Voices is an outlet for the outcast, a safe space for the fearful, and a microphone for the quiet. The Banquet was a way to celebrate that. Teen Scene inspires young teens to actually use their voices instead of just talking over them like most adults. The phrase “To be seen and not heard” does not intertwine itself into Teen Scene and never will.
