On Wed. March 8, the Gleam Club hosted an open mic style event where students performed poetry, music and stories live for an audience of their peers. This annual event is known as Writing on the Wall.

“The Forum gets set up like a coffee shop by the Alumni Foundation, and there’s a bake sale and we sell Gleams and people read off of Mr. [Blake] Taylor’s PA system,” Arthur Sprague, the co-leader of Gleam, said. “This year I’m so excited because we have a lot more musical elements.”

“Gleam is Walnut Hills’ oldest club and it’s one of our oldest events. It happens every year in the spring, and it’s sort of an open mic style performance. It’s not usually a true open mic, after we get done with things we do open up the mic for people who just show up. Last year that’s where most of it came from,” Sprague said.

Gleam is a writing club that publishes a magazine filled with poems and photography.  The club is focused on encouraging and showcasing young writers’ talent; whether that be in poetry or short stories or some other form. They meet every Tues. in Mr. Taylor’s room.

“I’d never heard of [Writing on the Wall] before so I wanted to try it out with my stand partner, [Kara Flaspohler]. [We] played “Flow Gently, Sweet Afton”. We both wanted to try something new that we had never done before. My favorite part was learning about different people who I normally wouldn’t have become friends with but everyone was comfortable and no one was afraid to express any of their thoughts.” said Ryley Murphy, who is not part of the Gleam Club but played the cello as the first performance.

“[Writing on the Wall] is always a really good summation of feelings at our school, people who have a lot to say bring things out. I know a lot of our kids have some very strong feelings about sexuality and identity, especially in this political climate. I think the thing to look forward to is the diversity of it all, and seeing our peers and what goes on behind their eyes and what they see and how they’re feeling. There is always this magic that comes up in writing circles and poetry events,” Sprague said.