Congraulations to Midwest Regional Shakespeare Champion Carlo Zenner

Regional Finalists.  Carlo, 2nd from right, was the winner

Congratulations to Senior Carlo Zenner who won the Midwest Regional Shakespeare competition on Tuesday at Newberry Library and qualified for Nationals in New York City!  Carlo has been working to master his performance skills with Hinsdale Central Acting teacher Erin Lundin and Hinsdale Central British Literature 1: Shakespeare teacher Michael Palmquist.

Learn more about the competition at the English-Speakers Union website.

Tell Your Story storytellers announced

I was excited to get my invitation to the Tell Your Story Event on February 18 and to see the list of storytellers!  Last year's event was astounding, and I'm looking forward to Feb 18!

Congratulations to the students and to the faculty sponsors, English teachers Robyn Corelitz, Hasham Bhatti, Kate Saunders, and Gina Chandler.

Greetings!

We are very excited to invite you to the Second Annual Tell Your Story event on Thursday, Feb. 18th from 5:00-6:30 p.m. in the Community Room at HCHS.

All essays were written with inspiration from this year’s theme—Knots. 10 students were chosen to read their personal essays at the event. There will be music by singer-songwriters Gia Margaret and Alain DeCourtenay, hot chocolate, treats, and more.

Please consider stopping by this event to support our wonderful writers.

The 10 students are:

Kai Foster

Ann Steephen

John “Jack” Kanzler

Nicko Ledesma

James Zhou

Armen Kelikian

Grace Hafner

Seetha Aribindi

Davis Miller

Isha Kukadia

Jorune Gurevicius is the English Department Student of the Quarter

I'm proud to announce that  Jorune Gurevicius (Class of '16) is the English Department's Student of the Quarter. She was selected by her World Literature teacher, Julia Kapelnikova.  When Ms. Kapelnikova introduced Jorune at the Student of the Quarter Breakfast this morning, she spoke about a Jorune's positive attitude, curiosity, excitement about talking about literature, and maturity.  Congratulations Jorune!

Congratulations Model UN!

There was fantastic news from this weekend's Model UN conference in Chicago called CIMUN, the Chicago International Model United Nations.  There were seven Hinsdale Central students who walked away with big awards in this international event.  It's hard to overstate how amazing this is.

CIMUN (pronounced sigh-mun, website here) is an international conference with attendees from some of the best schools in the country.  Many of the schools also offer Model UN as a class.  When our students, working as a club (not as a class), win awards, it is remarkable.  To win this number of awards is simply amazing.  Historically, it's the most awards we've ever won at a conference and the highest number in percentage terms by far.  Model UN isn't only about awards, in fact we try to downplay it, but this is simply amazing.

Michael Palmquist, Central English teacher, serves as Model UN sponsor.  Congratulations to all the students who participated.  Special note to the following:  

Alec Johnson - Outstanding Delegate - US Cabinet

Monica Bhagavan - Honorable Mention - League of Arab States.

Jacob Liu - Best Delegate and Delegate's Choice Award - International Press Delegation

Mita Rimani - Outstanding Delegate - League of Arab States

Peter Ren - Honorable Mention - Historical Security Council

Zach Kanjirath and Aneesh Balusu - Delegate's Choice - Historical General Assembly

Melissa Avila is the English Department Student of the Quarter!

English teacher Erin Lundin and Melissa Avila, English Department Student of the Quarter

I'm proud to announce that  Melissa Avila (Class of '16) is the English Department's Student of the Quarter. She was selected by her Acting 1 teacher, Erin Lundin.  When Ms. Lundin introduced Melissa at the Student of the Quarter Breakfast this morning, she spoke about a Melissa's maturity, leadership, and kindness.  Congratulations Melissa!

Tell Your Story 2016

I'm very excited to announce the second annual "Tell Your Story" event!  Last year's event was truly amazing, a remarkable display of true student stories and authentic and strong student voice.

"Tell your Story" is a night-time event that allows students to "tell their story" in a coffee-house-like setting (it's actually in the Community Room like you've never seen it before. ) Live musical entertainment and refreshments will be provided.  The theme of this year's event is "Knots."  Students must draw inspiration from the theme and be true,  and the story must be about YOU, not a best friend.

Student writing submissions are due on December 18th.  Four teacher sponsors will choose the speakers at the event.  I can't wait!

Do you want more information?  You can contact me, or Mrs. Robyn Corelitz (rcorelitz@hinsdale86.org), Mr. Hasham Bhatti (hbhatti@hinsdale86.org), Ms. Kate Saunders (ksaunders@hinsdale86.org) or Ms. Gina Chandler (gchandle@hinsdale86.org).

The deadline for submissions is on Dec. 18^th and the event will be on Feb. 18^th.

Solstice Wins CSPA Gold Again!

The 2014-2015 edition of Solstice, Hinsdale Central's art and literary magazine, was selected for top honors from Columbia Scholastic Press Association, receiving a "Gold Medal."  Thousands of magazines are submitted to CSPA from across the country, and, continuing the medal-winning traditional of the past few years, the staff of Solstice was honored to be among the few magazines to earn Gold.  Congratulations to last year's staff; design editors Nicholas Lucaccioni, Erin Bruns, and Connie Sarantos; literary editor Elizaveta Mangutov; and faculty sponsors Pat Potokar and Jim DiDomenico.