This is the eighth in a series marking the 50th year of SHP that we’re calling 50 Years 50 Stories of SHP. Everyone who has been involved with Summer Honors has contributed to its overall story, and here we plan to tell many interesting sub-stories about challenges SHP has faced, traditions SHP has inspired, and lives SHP has influenced. Please let us know if you have something to contribute to this series — for example, story ideas; written, video, or audio content; or volunteer time.
Author: Alizabeth McDermott
To address our most important detail of Matt Mason’s time as the SHP Creative Writing instructor, I have recently come into the knowledge that our dear and beloved mascot, Yukon, is in fact, not the original gnome.
My fellow creative writers, are you aware that our dear 22-year-old gnome is actually an identical replacement that was purchased shortly after our initial garden guardian. The very first Yukon was given to Matt Mason, SHP Creative Writing Class instructor from 2002 until 2008, as an instructor gift after an amazing summer of poetry and other written works. As for the gnome we have now, he is at least the second in his lineage.
“It’s not the original… I might have given it to somebody, and I might have buried it in the woods,” Mason said.
Matt first noted the idea that Yukon may have been in a box in storage somewhere unbeknownst to even him. However, upon an immediate investigation, Matt came to the conclusion that he was almost certainly left in the woods north of Omaha at the base of a well-decorated fairy tree. Sadly, this particular section of the forest is now overgrown to the point where Yukon remains incredibly well hidden, just another mystery of the wide expansion of the nearby land.
Matt was gifted Yukon within the first year, or first few years, of his existence as the creative writing class mascot. Therefore, right around the year 2004, there were other gnomes of his exact style and stature in production and up for sale. When the original Yukon was given away at the end of one hot summer, another quickly took its place. It is suspected by the last two decades of the creative writing class that this second edition is in fact the Yukon that still watches over the class today.
Yukon was only one of the many unique aspects of the Summer Honors Program that Matt grew to love throughout his time teaching. I believe that SHP is not only incredibly impactful for its students, but also for every instructor who has had the privilege of being a part of the program.
“I just remember the first year being so much fun that I wanted to do it forever,” Mason said.
Looking back on all the years I’ve devoted to this program, I can now safely say I feel the same.
One distinct difference I have always appreciated between your average high school classroom and the Summer Honors experience is the sheer drive, work ethic, and pure joy of the students. Every single SHP student made the choice to try out and apply for their program as a way to study what they truly care for in an environment that supports their creativity as well as who they are as an individual. This was a difference that both Matt and I quickly grew to understand and enjoy.
“The most rewarding part about teaching there was just learning to let the students go… it’s such a good, motivated group of students,” Mason said.
It has been my experience that creative writing students will always find a way to enjoy the work they choose to spend their time on. I remember tackling all kinds of styles and emotions through language, but the best part of it all was always getting to write alongside some of the most engaging writers and poets I’ve ever known.
“It’s so much fun to see people writing poetry and enjoying it, laughing while they’re writing poems.”
It’s not the content of the subject that makes Summer Honors classes so special, but rather it is, and always has been, the community we get to build.
Students leave SHP with a network of people they met throughout their time, many of whom may keep in touch over the years. I have learned that no matter where you can travel across the country, somewhere, there is an SHP alum from our little-known program in rural Nebraska, you just might not know it. That’s just another part of what makes the shared experience and community so special.
SHP has the same potential to be equally impactful in the lives of the instructors who come across this teaching opportunity.
In Matt Mason’s experience, the students of his creative writing classes from the 2000s loved their instructor, and they made a point to make it known. One of Matt’s own best examples of this came in the form of a song created and performed by the 2003 Creative Writing class and later recorded by Kirby Johnson and Rob Christensen.
“They wrote me a theme song,” Mason said. “They surprised me with it. I think they worked on it throughout the week, and when they sang it in class I think the whole class was involved.”
It is important to me that you all know the fact that upon telling me about the existence of this theme song, I immediately asked if there was any way Matt might still be able to find it. In less than 60 seconds, before I had even fully finished asking, Matt had the file up and ready to play as it was saved on the home screen of his computer, where it has safely lived for years.
This is a full length, acoustic guitar featuring, 3-minute-long theme song dedicated to Matt Mason, and it is, for a lack of better words, amazing.
Simply the existence of this song begins to paint the picture of just how significant Summer Honors was for many people who had the chance to be there, both students and instructors alike. I highly recommend you give it a listen.