Volta co-founders Hayden Saunier and Leuray Gross held a workshop on Monday Oct. 20, in the hopes of helping the next generations of creative minds come together and strengthen their knowledge and connection to the literary world.
Volta first started when Saunier and Gross, as well as six other former Bucks County poet laureates, first came together and formed the organization after one of the members, Bill Wunder, a veterinarian of Vietnam, shared his ideal vision of creating a poetry center within Bucks County itself.
After sharing this vision, the other laureates agreed and began using their own individual perspectives to further progress Wunder’s vision into a program of collaborative writing arts.
Over the years, the productivity of the workshop program has caused the membership to grow from its eight original founders, and thus a two-way mutual benefit has been going on since then, with one of their more recent members being resident Montgomery County and founder of the Montgomery County Poetry Laureate Program Joanne Liba.
As of today, Saunier and Gross believe Volta’s successful contributions to the Bucks community involved a number of creative writing workshops across various locations revolving around topics such as playwriting, criticizing, open mic presentations and memoir crafting, while also doing their part to not only make attendance affordable to Bucks students and non-Bucks students, but to also provide aid in other areas.
“They’re $15 to the community, but if you’re a senior, a student or a vet, they’re ten, and if you need help, we have someone who has given us some money who will give you a scholarship,” said Saunier.
Apart from matters of money, Volta also aims to encourage aspiring creatives to learn from each other, thereby gaining new perspectives on writing, as well as unexplored aspects about themselves.
“We want to create and build a community of people working to keep those voices vibrant and connected and welcoming of new voices and both their writing and their arts in a variety of ways,” said Saunier.
For how the aforementioned benefits of collaboration can help Bucks students with problems outside of creative writing, both Saunier and Gross explained how the added understanding of the language arts can better the performances of similar academic courses and assignments.
“When you’re strengthening your mastery of language, as a speaker, a writer and a listener, those skills help you in any subject area,” said Gross.
One last noteworthy benefit the Volta program aims for is to educate students in being brave enough to express their own internal struggles through their writing pieces, and being sensitive and understanding to the pains and struggles of others.
“I always find those connections because I’ve been in pain and I’ve been embarrassed, and it does help you connect to the whole piece of humanity that we’re not alone and we share these things,” said Souiner.
To anyone who wishes for the opportunity to be introduced to Volta first hand, the organization is holding an Open Mic Lunch Hour at the solarium of the Rollins center of Buck County Community College’s Newtown campus on Nov. 13, 2025, intended to go on from 12:15p.m. to 1:30p.m.
Attendants there are welcome to freely share any form of creative writing pieces they wish to present, with the exception that all attendants be respectfully mindful of their audiences and fellow presenters, and prohibit themselves from sharing any harmful or intentionally offensive content.