George F. Whitworth Honors Program

Language Arts in Prison and Juvenile Detention Centers

Andrew Doughty

BIO: My name is Andrew Doughty, and I’m originally from Kirkland, Washington. As a Whitworth student, I’ve been involved in many things beyond academics. I’ve been a team member of the Awake campus ministry for two years. This involves planning outreach events, building relationships with other students and serving the community. I’ve been a track and field athlete all four years. My events include the 200 meter, 400 meter and 4×400 meter relay. I’m also involved in lots of clubs as president of the Whitworth Magic the Gathering Club, vice president of the English Honor society club Sigma Tau Delta, vice President of Gaming Club, and an officer of Storytellers Club. Through Sigma Tau Delta I was selected to present a short story at the 2025 International Convention in Pittsburgh and poetry at the 2026 Convention in New Orleans. I was also the winner of the 2022-2023 Whitworth Best Poetry Award and a recipient of the 2023-2024 Whitworth English Rising Junior Departmental Scholarship Award. This summer, I look forward to working at Ingalls Creek with adults with special needs through the Summer Fellowship Program. Longterm, I hope to publish fantasy novels.

MAJOR: English

Minor: Creative Writing

Project Overview: I’ve always had a desire to serve the prison population in the United States. As a follower of Christ, it is something Jesus commands, but I have also specifically felt a gravity toward this population due to their challenges and injustices. The United States prison system is broken in many ways, from wrongful incarceration to cruel treatment and lack of resources. For this project I considered how I could apply what I’ve learned as an English major and liberal arts student to this last problem. I also wanted this to be an applied project in order to start making a difference over the course of the semester.

 
This project had two facets: one was working with the Books to Prisoners organization to put on a book drive. Through this drive we collected over 200 books which will be mailed to prisoners across the country as well as a grant for 500$ from the Sigma Tau Delta Honor society as a part of the Chapter service project to provide them with new shelving, postage, and specifically requested books. This meets a physical demand: access to the books prisoners want to read.
 
The other aspect of this project was volunteering in the Juvenile Detention Center in downtown Spokane where I was able to work with high school students in their English classes through creative writing workshops. I was able to connect with individual students who come from a variety of situations and use the tools I’ve learned about creative writing to help them to process and create though creative writing of their own.