Norman Mailer Writing Award Recognition for Three Central Grads

Photo Credit: http://www.ncte.org/awards/student/nmwa

Three recent Hinsdale Central grads received national writing recognition in the Norman Mailer High School and College Writing Awards.  This is widely considered the most prestigious writing award for nonfiction in high school and college.  Congratulations to Evan DeLorenzo ('13), who was a non-fiction finalist and to
Evan Lee ('13) and Abhishek Deshpande ('13) who were both semi-finalists.

English Teacher Jared Friebel

This is a great testament to the quality of student at Hinsdale Central and to the supportive, encouraging teachers in the English Department.  During their senior years, both Evans were the students of English teacher Jared Friebel in the Honors Seminar in Writing course.  Abhi was Angelique Burrell's student in the senior-level AP English Literature and Composition.   The Honors Seminar in Writing course focuses on the creation of creative non-fiction writing.  Angelique has been incorporating creative non-fiction in a course that is traditionally very analytical.

The "Judging Criteria" published at the Norman Mailer Award website demonstrates the high standards of this award:

Submissions will be read by national panels of teachers and writers. They will be judged by how well they achieve several qualities, including the artful treatment of subject matter; originality; quality of insight, image, voice, and style; artful arrangement of elements and materials; and overall aesthetic, emotional or intellectual effect.Finalists selected through this process will be submitted to a distinguished author (or panel of authors) selected by the Norman Mailer Center and Writers Colony, who will choosethe winning writers. Previous judges include William Kennedy, Sigrid Nunez, Colum McCann, and other accomplished authors.

Congratulations to Evan, Evan, and Abhi, along with Jared, Angelique as well as the teachers that supported them throughout their career at Hinsdale Central.

English Teacher Wins NEH Fellowship

English teacher, Cherise Lopez, participated in a prestigious National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship over the summer that took place in San Diego, California, titled "Empire of the Winds". During the workshop, Ms. Lopez participated in various discussions and lectures given by area professors that entailed learning about the discovery of the western coast from a nautical, historical perspective. The culmination of this experience ended with a lesson plan that Ms. Lopez created that she plans to use in her AP Language & Composition course that has students analyze visual rhetoric. This is the third fellowship Ms. Lopez has been awarded through the National Endowment and she looks forward to applying for future opportunities. 

Scholastic Art & Writing Award Winner at Hinsdale Central

Congratulations to Elijah Seo ('14) who participated in the 2013 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards program and received the Gold Key Award for his essay "Unfilitered."

This is an impressive achievement.  According to the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards website:

Each year, the Alliance partners with more than 100 visual and literary-arts organizations across the country to bring The Awards to local communities. Teens in grades 7 through 12 can apply in 28 categories of art and writing for the chance to earn scholarships and have their works exhibited or published. Submissions are juried by luminaries in the visual and literary arts, some of whom are past award recipients. Panelists look for works that best exemplify originality, technical skill and the emergence of a personal voice or vision. 

In the last five years alone, students submitted nearly 900,000 original works of art and writing. 

English teacher Gina Chandler was Elijah's teacher during his junior year.  Congratulations to Elijah.

Devils' Advocate Wins National Recognition

photo credit: http://studentpressblogs.org/nspa/

Devils' Advocate is a Pacemaker Finalist!  The Devils’ Advocate 2012-2013 staff and advisor have been nominated by the National Scholastic Press Association as a finalist for the association’s Pacemaker Award.  Evan Lee (’13) served as Devils' Advocate editor-in-chief, and Sarah Renehan (’13) was managing editor. English teacher Sue Grady is the newspaper advisor. 

Sue Grady

This puts the the Advocate staff in elite company:  they are one of only ten finalists nominated nationwide in the News magazine category. This nomination, (according to the NSPA website) is based on the breadth and judgment of coverage, content, quality of writing, editorial leadership on editorial page, evidence of in-depth reporting, layout, design, photography, art and graphics. The winner of the Pacemaker Award will be announced at the annual NSPA convention in Boston this November.

Here's an illustrated list of all the national finalists.

Just Arrived: The Best Nonfiction Writing at Hinsdale Central 2013

Four Years of Excellent Writing at Central

      The Best Nonfiction Writing Hinsdale Central 2013 has arrived!  Congratulations to the Honors Seminar in Writing team (Heather Fehrman, Jared Friebel, Angelique Burrell) for this FOURTH volume that showcases the excellent writing teaching that goes on across the department.

      This book collects a wide range of creative and thoughtful student writing. It's the product of countless hours of selection, editing, and proofreading by the students in last year's Honors Seminar in Writing and the three current English teachers assigned to teach Honors Seminar in Writing.

The book serves as an inspiration for students, a source of model writing for teachers, and, as Angelique suggested in last year's book introduction, a "time capsule" for anyone who wants to know what Central students were thinking about in 2013.

If you'd like to learn more or to purchase your own copy of the book contact me or Angelique (aburrell@hinsdale86.org)