In 2020-2021, Dr. Ellis-Lai received a grant to develop web resources to support local elementary school teachers and administrators who are interested in organizing a National Day of Writing event at their schools. For the past several years, Dr. Ellis-Lai has been recruiting, training, and coordinating college student volunteers from the Department of English and the Honors College at Texas State University in a National Day of Writing event at DeZevala Elementary School in San Marcos, Texas. Many of these student volunteers have gone on to work as professional teachers upon graduation.
