Announcing the 2020 Writer in Residence

May 1, 2020

The High Plains Library District Foundation is proud to announce the 2020 Writer in Residence. Joshua Collier was selected by a volunteer committee to serve as the Foundation’s fifth Writer in Residence. Joshua will use the nine-month residency to create a book that encourages growth in STEM through engaging characters, hisotrical relevance, and STEM projects that can be done at home.

Joshua Collier has lived in Colorado since he was a toddler. Growing up with innovative educators as parents, he had constant opportunities to learn through hands-on projects and adventures exploring the hidden complexities all around us. This inspired both his creative expression as well as his overwhelming desire to know how everything works. These two strengths continued to intertwine as he pursued his education and career.

After completing his master’s degree in Communication and the Arts, with a focus on directing cinema and TV, he has primarily expressed his creativity through video, graphics, and photography. Joshua’s desire to perpetually learn evolved into a mission to inspire that same mindset of exploration and awe in our community’s youth. He taught as a STEM teacher, coaches robotics teams, runs after school programs and summer camps, and assists his parents in bringing STEM focused, project-based learning to Kenya and Zambia.

Joshua’s book will follow three friends and their unexpected adventure with a mysterious time traveler. A combination of Dr. Who and The Magic School Bus, this journey will test their ability to investigate, problem solve, and work as a team as they jump through history attempting to stop a mischievous adversary. The book will include STEM-centered solutions and facts while inspiring youth to see every problem as a chance to learn and overcome.

Joshua’s goal for his project is to further develop youth STEM programs throughout our community and encourage a growth mindset to combat the stereotypes, labels, and ever-increasing attack on our children’s hopes, dreams, and vision for the future.

I want my boys, and all our youth, to have every opportunity to reach for the stars.

The main characters face the current challenges of our youth, but overcome the stereotypes and dilemmas that try to hold them back, such as a young problem-solver who dreams of being an inventor, but has been told he must leave the rural life he loves and move to a city to accomplish such a dream.

The Writer in Residence program was established by the High Plainis Library District Foundation and is funded by community donors. The goal of the program is to support the creative process of one Weld County writer over a nine-month while they complete a manuscript with the intent to publish. The resident works with HPLD Librarians to design library programs and share their project with the community. The program is part of the District’s larger vision to help build communities.

For more information about the Writer in Residence, as well as updates on Joshua’s project and his upcoming library programs, visit mylibrary.us/writer-in-residence.