8 Central Students Published; 8 Honored in Illinois English Bulletin

Each year, the Illinois English Bulletin devotes its Fall issue to publishing student work from Illinois students. This year, an astounding 16 Central students were published and honored. Congratulations to this remarkable group of authors!

Published

Madeline Beja (senior) "Generation to Generation"

Audrey Glaser (senior) "Canta Y Une Tu Voz"

Laurel Johnson (senior) "A Fight Worth Having"

Mackenzie King (class of 2011) "Adopting an Identity"

Danielle Labotka (class of 2011) "Dancers Don't Cry"

Riley O'Donnell (senior) "The Crash"

Jennifer Oetter (class of 2011) "Untitled"

Julia Quintero (class of 2011) "Dear Dragonfly, Love Meggers"

Jeffrey Yang (senior) "Quit"

Honored

Meredith Christian (senior) "Purple is Everything"

Claire Dunderman (class of 2011) "Clause and Effect"

Gemma Groch (senior) "The Evolution of My Father"

Divya Kirti (senior) "Don't Freak Out, But I've Got Three Kids in My Backpack"

Mahum Mirza (senior) "Facebook Motto: With Great Positives Come Great Negatives"

Elizabeth Ann Shaw (senior) "Learning How to Talk"

Grace Walsh (senior) "A Chance Conversation"

Hinsdale Central PSAE Scores remain tops in DuPage

The Chicago Tribune reported today that Hinsdale Central students scored very well on the Prairie State Achievement Exam that all juniors took last April. Of non-selective schools, Central is ranked #1 in DuPage County (and just behind New Trier and Deerfield High Schools overall). Central's continued excellence is a marked contrast to general gloomy outlook that the Tribune reported in a recent article about this year's scores.

Central students scored #1 on the Reading subsection of the test, as well.

Find the data here.

Senior Stephanie Lenchard-Warren wins national writing award

Senior Stephanie Lenchard-Warren recently was awarded the prestigious "Achievement Award in Writing" for "superior performance in writing" by the National Council of Teachers of English. A total of 1,649 juniors were nominated by their schools to participate in the 2011 program. The essay that she submitted to the contest, "Eyes Against a Black Canvas" was also published last year in The Best Nonfiction Writing, Hinsdale Central High School. (View this post to learn how to order your own copy.) Stephanie is currently enrolled in the Honors Seminar in Writing.

The National Council of Teachers of English Achievement Award in Writing was established in 1957 to encourage high school students in writing and recognize publicly some of the best student writers in the nation. The selection process is intense. The winning writers are selected for independence of thought, fresh insight, concern for expressiveness, keen observation and reflection, and sensitivity to nuances of word meaning.

Congratulations to Stephanie and the entire faculty for helping her develop her writing skills.

Online Devils' Advocate goes global!

English teacher and Devils' Advocate sponsor Sue Grady just told me that the online newspaper is gaining international attention. Website statistics show that it is being viewed in Beijing, London, Leicester, Kennsington and London. Check it out at http://www.hcdevilsadvocate.com/

Student of the Quarter Award Winner: Rachel Krauss

Senior Rachel Krauss, shown here with her parents, is the English Department Student of the Quarter. English teacher Ms. Erin Timmons nominated Rachel and introduced her at the Student of the Quarter breakfast today. Ms. Timmons, who works with Rachel in El Diablo, the student yearbook organization, celebrated Rachel's natural leadership and incredible organizational skills. Rachel is currently the Managing Editor of El Diablo. Congratulations, Rachel!

Two HC finalists in the 2011 Normal Mailer Writing Award

Hinsdale Central Alum Maz King (2011) and Senior Stephanie Lenchard-Warren have earned recognition as national finalists in the 2011 Norman Mailer High School Writing Award for Creative Nonfiction competition.

Evaluation criteria for this elite award reflected qualities of writing Norman Mailer pursued across a lifetime: originality; insight; clear voice and style; artful arrangement of elements and materials; and overall aesthetic, emotional, or intellectual effect.

The essays of Maz and Stephanie were among the top five entries received from high school writers across the country. Congratulations to both of them!

The New Online Devils' Advocate!

If you haven’t checked out Devils’ Advocate Online, do it now! It is beautiful,very cool, and new, going online earlier this week. And, according to Sue Grady, Adovocate sponsor, and English teacher, a hit across the country with . You can find it here: http://www.hcdevilsadvocate.com/

This is such an exciting opportunity for kids a whole new frontier. While the sliding pictures/headline thing on the homepage is cool, my favorite thing is to go to one of the sections, like sports, and scan down the pictures and headlines – exactly like I do when I'm on online news websites.