Events

Yes, You Do Have a Story to Tell!
A Creative Lab for College-App Essay Writers

Wednesday, July 9, 2025 | 7:00–8:15 p.m.

Weston Public Library
Community Room
87 School Street, Weston, MA 02493
Free

Saturday, June 28, 2025 | 10:00–11:15 a.m.
Sunday, April 13, 2025 | 2:00–3:00 p.m.

Concord Free Public Library
Main Library, Goodwin Forum
129 Main Street, Concord, MA 01742
Free

In this generative writing lab with founder Allan Reeder, students learn how to shape memory into material—and begin the work of writing what only they can write. It’s an energizing, practical way to begin the essay process. Bring a notebook. Parents and caregivers are welcome.

Lunchtime Q&A for Parents of College-App Essay Writers

Wednesday, June 11, 2025 | 12:00–12:45 p.m. ET
Online via Google Meet
Free

Join Hillside Writing founder Allan Reeder for a free Q&A session on Google Meet! Parents and caregivers of soon-to-be college applicants are invited to ask him anything about the college-application essay project. Curious about what admissions officers look for, how students can discover a compelling topic, or best practices for parents? We recommend that students complete the main essay during the summer, so this is the perfect time to get answers and make a plan!

The Inside Story:
A Creative Lab for College-App Essay Writers and Caregivers

Presented in partnership with Book Passage, a bookstore in Corte Madera and San Francisco, CA

Saturday, May 31, 2025 | 10:30–12:00 p.m. Pacific Time
Online via Google Meet
$65

In this workshop, Hillside Founder Allan Reeder will teach participants how to turn a memory into a scene and eventually into a meaningful story. To get readers to connect with your story, you first have to connect with it yourself, with a readiness for discovery. By engaging in this process alongside their student, caregivers will be able to provide positive support at home, and perhaps get inspired as well! As one parent remarked, “I was blown away by this teaching — it made me want to write my own college-application essays all over again, which is saying something!”

We offer this Creative Lab in May, at the doorway to summer, when students will be free from academic and extracurricular demands and will have have greater mental space for creativity and reflection. Once their senior year begins in the fall, students must focus on finalizing their applications while also taking some of their most demanding courses. Students may also have college-specific supplement essays to write. The Creative Lab focuses on the central writing project of the “Common App” essay, around which students write their supplement essays. By starting this process during summer, students and their caregivers can experience less tension or conflict and develop a clear path forward. We hope you’ll join us!

Get Answers: Supporting Your College-App Essay Writer
Free Live Q&A for Parents and Caregivers

Wednesday, February 5, 2025
7:00–7:45 p.m.

Join Hillside Writing founder Allan Reeder for a live Q&A session on Google Meet! Designed for parents of juniors, this free interactive event is your chance to ask Allan anything about the college-application essay project. Curious about what admissions officers look for, how students can discover a compelling topic, or best practices for parents? Drawing on his years of experience coaching writers, Allan will share practical advice and insights to help you support your student through this personally meaningful project.

Yes, You Do Have a Story to Tell!
A Creative Lab for College-App Essay Writers

In-Person and via Zoom
Thursday, May 2, 2024
Thursday, September 19, 2024
7:00–8:15 p.m.

Wellesley Free Library
530 Washington Street, Wellesley, MA
Sponsored by the Friends of the Wellesley Free Libraries

In-Person
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
7:00–8:15 p.m.

Weston Public Library
87 School Street, Weston, MA, 02493

“I have nothing to write about!”

That’s a common reaction from students facing the college-app essay project. From here, an emotional cycle can whirl: the initial doubt that gave rise to the statement invites further worry that obstructs creative thinking. The absence of progress makes the statement feel like fact. What’s true is that the statement is never true.

Other students may feel they have a promising idea for writing but struggle to find a way in.

This instructive writing lab for soon-to-be college applicants — and their parents! — helps students step beyond doubt or worry and toward possibility and progress.

Drawing on more than a decade of coaching young writers through thousands of essays, Allan Reeder, Hillside Writing’s founder, helps attendees to see the college-app essay as an opportunity for self-discovery. The most effective, memorable essays develop through an organic process of building from the specific details of the writer’s experience. Allan teaches students how to shape memory into material. The process positions students to write what only they can write, and to ask the questions that reveal the value of their experiences.

The pressure to appear exceptional can be paralyzing for applicants. Let’s replace that pressure with genuine curiosity, which turns out to be the engine behind exceptional essays.

Students and parents should come ready with pen, paper, and imaginations.

Free Webinar: Launching the Uncommon College-App Essay

Wednesday, July 10, 2024 | 7:00–8:30 p.m.
Hosted by Summit Educational Group

Hillside founder Allan Reeder delivers this energetic talk to help applicants and their support teams see the college-application essay less as a challenge and more as an opportunity — even an enjoyable one! With a case-study approach, Allan demonstrates what makes an essay resonate in an admissions officer’s mind and offers practical preliminary steps toward achieving an authentic, memorable essay.

Free Life Stories Lab:
Discovering Your Story and How to Write It

In-Person
Wednesday, June 12, 2024
7:00–8:00 p.m.
Cary Memorial Library
1874 Massachusetts Avenue, Lexington, MA, 02420

Sponsored by the Cary Library Foundation.

In this instructive creative lab, attendees will take their wish to write stories from their lives into inspiring practice. Allan Reeder will lay the groundwork for moving from your initial impulse to write into a process of personal discovery. Building from the specifics of a moment, you’ll engage your own imagination to recapture a scene that holds the promise of a truth that you can share from your life. Come get inside your vivid story and learn how to invite others in through your writing!

Supporting the College-App Writer: A Virtual Workshop for Parents

Thursday, June 6, 2024
7:00–8:00 p.m.

In this online workshop Hillside founder Allan Reeder will share his advice on how to support students through the most personal part of the college-application project: the essays. With stories from his own work with students, he’ll shed light on what the essay project is, what to expect, and how it becomes meaningful for students and readers. It’s common for parents and applicants to view the essays as a challenge to be gotten through, but in our view, they’re a valuable opportunity for writers to slow down, look more closely, hear their voices, and develop trust in the writing process and in themselves. You’ll spend some workshop time cultivating empathy for the college-app essay writer in your life by getting curious about your own experiences. Bring your questions!

Cost: $29. Free for parents/guardians of enrolled 2024 Hillside students, but registration is required.

Free Webinar: Launching the Uncommon College-App Essay

Wednesday, April 10, 2024 | 7:00–8:30 p.m.
Hosted by Summit Educational Group

Hillside founder Allan Reeder delivers this energetic talk to help applicants and their support teams see the college-application essay less as a challenge and more as an opportunity — even an enjoyable one!

With a case-study approach, Allan demonstrates what makes an essay resonate in an admissions officer’s mind and offers practical preliminary steps toward achieving an authentic, memorable essay.

Supporting the College-App Writer: A Free Workshop for Parents

Wednesday, March 20, 2024
7:00–8:00 p.m.
Lexington Community Center – Room #242
39 Marrett Rd. Lexington, MA

Hillside founder Allan Reeder will share his advice on how to support students through the most personal part of the college-application project: the essays. With stories from his own work with students, he’ll shed light on what the essay project is, what to expect, and how it becomes meaningful for students and readers. It’s common for parents and applicants to view the essays as a challenge to be gotten through, but in our view, they’re a valuable opportunity for writers to slow down, look more closely, hear their voices, and develop trust in the writing process and in themselves. You’ll spend some workshop time cultivating empathy for the college-app essay writer in your life by getting curious about your own experiences. Bring your questions.

Free Seminar: Launching the Uncommon College-App Essay

In-Person
Thursday, September 14th, 2023 | 7:00–8:30 p.m.
Weston Public Library
87 School Street, Weston, MA, 02493

In-Person and via Zoom
Thursday, June 8, 2023 | 7:00–8:30 p.m.
Wellesley Free Library
530 Washington Street, Wellesley, MA
Sponsored by the Friends of the Wellesley Free Libraries

Webinar
Wednesday, April 12, 2023 | 7:00–8:30 p.m.
Wednesday, July 12, 2023 | 7:00–8:30 p.m.
Hosted by Summit Educational Group

Free Creative Writing Seminar: Finding and Telling Your Story

Wednesday, August 30th, 2023 | 7:00–8:00 p.m.
Cary Memorial Library – Large Meeting Room
1874 Massachusetts Avenue, Lexington, MA, 02420

We all have personally significant stories to tell, but how do we best begin to write them? How can we invite readers into an experience we’ve had — or an experience we’ve imagined for a fictional character — with narrative momentum? And how do we discover more about our stories, beyond simply what happened? This workshop, offered by the founder of Hillside, Allan Reeder, explores all of these questions with an imaginative process that starts with single sentences. The stories and the meaning they hold grow from there.

The workshop is for adults and teens who are interested in learning creative writing skills. The instruction and exploration is helpful for teens who are in the process of developing their college-application essays.

This program is made possible by the generous donors to the Cary Library Foundation.

Supporting the College-App Writer: A Free Workshop for Parents

Wednesday, March 15, 2023
7:00–8:00 p.m.
Lexington Community Center – Room #242
39 Marrett Rd. Lexington, MA

Hillside Founder Allan Reeder will share his advice on how to support students through the most personal part of the college-application project: the essays. With stories from his own work with students, he’ll shed light on what the essay project is, what to expect, and how it becomes meaningful for students and readers. It’s common for parents and applicants to view the essays as a challenge to be gotten through, but in our view, they’re a valuable opportunity for writers to slow down, look more closely, hear their voices, and develop trust in the writing process and in themselves. You’ll spend some workshop time cultivating empathy for the college-app essay writer in your life by getting curious about your own experiences. Bring your questions.