Louder Than a Bomb season begins!

Congratulations to HC Poets!  Wednesday, Feb. 25, the Slam Poetry Team competed in its first bout of the Louder Than a Bomb slam poetry festive and earned score ranging from 8.5 - 10 on a 10-point scale.  

LTAB is sponsored by HC English teachers Kim Williams and Robyn Corelitz.

LTAB poets at the first bout of the year.

Devils' Advocate captures Black History Month Poetry Jam on video

Check out the DA video here.
See my earlier post about the Poetry Jam here.

Black History Month: Jazz Band

Hinsdale Central Jazz Band and Director Matt Kurinsky (left)

Big crowd this AM for HC jazz band tunefully celebrating Black History Month.  They sounded great.  My favorite : Miles Davis' "Budo."   Great to see District 86 Superintendent Dr. Bruce Law enjoying the music.  This has been another great event.  I'm looking forward to the soul food menu tomorrow!

And, as Deborah Powell says, "Let the celebration continue!"

Poetry Jam Kicks off Black History Month Celebration in the Library

Students Inovled in Poetry Jam - and some HC administration
Photo Credit: Cassandra Richardson

There was a big crowd of students, staff, teachers, and administrators in the library this morning to see "Poetry Jam," the first event of Hinsdale Central's celebration of Black History Month.  It was a great way to start the day!

Eleven student presenters did a great job reading poetry today: Nehe Basti, Greg Debrosse, Danielle Evans, Sophia Lekas, Robert Laws, Haneen Mahmoud, Jasmine Mitts, Carolina Papoli, Talia Sankari, London Taylor, and Treci Thomas. 

English teacher Michael Smith has worked with this group of students in selecting (and rehearsing) these great poems.  Michael also read his own poem, dedicated to his son Langston, and based on Langston Hughes' poem, "Mother to Son."  Not many eyes were dry after this poem.

This was a great beginning.   As Black History Month organizer, and HC staff member, Deborah Powell said in a recent email: "Let the celebration continue!"

(update:  Devils' Advocate made a video of Mr. Smith's poetry reading and did a quick interview of him here.)

Here are some of my snapshots from the event:

 

English Teacher Michael Smith

HC English Teacher Published Again

Andrew W. Jones, who taught at Central for 6 years and is now leading a department at an international school in Istanbul, Turkey, was published again.

Check out his nonfiction article, "The Marlboro Men of Chernivitsi" which was published in The Morning News.

Read about Andy winning the Norman Mailer Prize here.

Clarendon Hills' Doings Kimberly Fornek interviews English teacher Andy Jones about his new book, "Two Seasons in the Bubble" last year.  See the interview about his life in Bulgaria here.  Andy's book is at Amazon.com here.  

Solstice is a Crown Finalist!

I was very excited to see that The Columbia Scholastic Press Association announced the finalists for its Crown Award for publications published during the 2013-2014 academic year... and that HC's Solstice was among the Crown finalists!

This year a total of 1,203 newspapers, magazines and yearbooks and digital publications issued during the 2013-2014 academic year were eligible for judging in the 2015 Crown Awards Program.

According to the CSPA website, "During Crown consideration, publications are judged on their excellence as shown by their design, photography, concept, coverage and writing.  Crown Awards summarize overall excellence in the entire publication."

As a finalist, Solstice will win either a Silver or God crown award. Read about the award (and other finalists) here.  And check out this post about the publication of the magazine in May.

Congratulations to Solstice Chief Editors Gabrielle Lail ('14), Syndney Schwartz ('14), and Emily Ding ('14) along with the entire Solstice staff for the beautiful, remarkable 2014 edition. 

English teacher Jim DiDomenico shares duties of Solstice Sponsor with art teacher Pat Potokar.

"Tell Your Story" Student-Writers Selected!

I just learned about the line-up for the First Annual Tell Your Story event on Thursday, Feb 19 from 5:30-7 pm in the Community Room at HCHS.  I can't wait for what promises to be a fabulous musical-literary  celebration of the power of story.

Out of over 320 submissions, 12 students were chosen to read their personal essays next Thursday.

There will be music by singer-songwriters Gia Margaret and Alain DeCourtenay, hot chocolate, treats, and more.

All essays were written with inspiration from this year’s theme—Waves.

Please consider stopping by this event to support our wonderful student writers!

The selected authors are: Magali Blasdell, Melissa Mooney, Victoria Peralta, Emma Rosenberg, Jacob Becker, Melissa Osksuie, Saryu Sanghani, Carley Chana, Elin Dejus, Giana Scarpiniti, Askh Patel, Gabriella Seo 

Congratulations to everyone who submitted essays and to the twelve selected authors.  "Tell Your Story" has been created by English teachers Hasham Bhatti, Robyn Corelitz, and Kate Saunders.  

Find a recent Advocate article about "Tell Your Story" here and more information here and here.

Senior represents HC at English Speaking Union Event

Senior Jackson Dockery won an in-school competition a couple weeks ago and competed at Roosevelt University yesterday in the English-Speaking Union Chicago Branch regional Shakespeare competition.

Jackson performed the "Bottom's Dream" monologue from "Midsummer Night's Dream" and Sonnet #116.

This is first time in memory that HC has had a competitor.  The HC competition was organized by English teacher Mike Palmquist and English and Acting teacher Erin Lundin.  They're excited to make this a new tradition at Hinsdale Central.

Read more about the National Shakespeare Competition here.

Hinsdale Central Student Authors Win Scholastic Art and Writing Awards

The prestigious Scholastic Art & Writing Awards have been announced.  I was so pleased to see so many Hinsdale Central students identified as award winners!

Special congratulations go to Sophomore Selin Turkyilmaz won a "Gold Key" award for her poems "Star" and "Thief."  Selin's current English teacher is Erin Palmer.  The Gold Key marks the highest award.

A number of students were awarded "Silver Key" awards in the "personal essay/memoirs" category .  I have listed the winners, the title of their work, and their current English teacher at Central.

Junior Saadia Elahi for "Baby Steps" (Gina Chandler)

Junior Ellen Jiang for "A Bracelet of Memories" (Cherise Lopez)

Junior Nina Molina for "Unveiling a Hidden Heart"  (Cherise Lopez)

Junior B.J. Ryan for "Free-Range Sand" (Gina Chandler)

Junior Craig Smith for "Morales of a Dead Man" (Cherise Lopez)

Sophomore Selin Turkyilmaz for "On Beauty" (ErinPalmer

Junior Annie Zaher for "A Small Victory" (Gina Chandler)

Congratulations also for some of Central's young authors for winning "Honorable Mention" prizes.  

Junior Saadia Elahi for her personal essay "Turning Pages" (Gina Chandler)

Junior Ellen Jiang for her personal essay "A Different Normal" (Gina Chandler)

Sophomore Nina Molina for her poetry collection (Cherise Lopez)

Watch Ecology Club's entry into the Green Film Contest!

I just watched the Hinsdale Central Ecology Club's brand new entry into the Green Film Contest.  The Ecology Club Sponsor is English teacher Cherise Lopez.  Check it out!

And, check out the award that Ecology Club won last year in this contest here.

Celebrating Black History Month 2015

photo credit: WBS-TV Atlanta

I'm looking forward to all the great events planned for Black History Month, but I can't help to give a special shout out to one that closest to my heart:  this Friday's "Poetry Jam" in the library.  English teacher Michael Smith has worked with a group of Hinsdale Central students in selecting (and rehearsing) some great poems to present this Friday, February 6 in the library from 7:20-7:55.  I hope to see you there!