Amid cheers of adulation from sign-waving supporters, North Penn’s eleventh grade Honors English students showed their love for literature with everything from dramatic readings to artistic renderings to an original song devoted to The Scarlet Letter’s Hester Prynne. Charged with the spirit of competition and the excitement of the event, students participating in North Penn’s Second Annual Lit Fest found that their hard work in comprehending the intricate words of Hemingway and Melville had finally paid off.
Head coordinator of the event, Ellen McKee, recognized the benefits of getting her students excited about the course material, mentioning that seeing teachers’ and other students’ enthusiasm is nothing short of infectious.
“Lit Fest requires kids to really dive into the text and choose a favorite passage, and when you prepare a reading, you really get your head around what that quote means and own that quote. To hear it spoken by a classmate or to prepare it yourself really makes that very powerful for kids,” said McKee. “I also think that it’s powerful to have the teachers read their favorite quotes, as well. Sometimes we get caught up in testing, and we forget that we just love this literature. So to see your teachers do it as well, I think, adds to the atmosphere of academic excitement.”
McKee, along with fellow Honors English teachers Elizabeth Weizer, Kevin Manero, Danielle O’Reilly, Kenneth Kratz, and Megan Schmidt, have been preparing their students all year for this event: during the fiercely competitive Knowledge Bowl, some questions even referenced literature that students had read as early in the course as the summer assignment. Though the most intense preparations began in the final weeks before the event, McKee stressed that students have been readied for Lit Fest simply by their already-rigorous day-to-day English education.
“In terms of having the class prepared, I think I speak for all the English teachers when I say, it’s what we do! That’s just what we do in class. I think the fact that so many kids got [all of the Knowledge Bowl questions] right was a testament to how well they’ve learned their literature.”
Especially with this year’s Lit Fest being only North Penn’s second, those in charge considered it a rousing success. Student talent was the highlight of the event, featuring ten poignant dramatic readings, of which Melissa Fuhr’s delivery of the first chapter of Melville’s Moby Dick won recognition, fifteen artful alternate book covers and artistic renderings, out of which Christian Aristizabal’s book cover and Sabeeya Khan’s artistic rendering were chosen as the best of the bunch, and even an impressive ballad of Hawthorne’s Hester Prynne and her struggles against Puritan society, penned and performed by Vicki Finley and Abi Natesh.
Making Lit Fest happen is not always an easy task: it takes the efforts of all participating teachers and students to coordinate the competition and exhibitions. Attention to detail is key, especially in the face of North Penn’s touch-and-go snow day schedules as of late.
“Really it’s just a matter of every teacher has their own little responsibility that they do, and we all kind of work together and get the show up and running…bringing the balloons in my Prius from home is always an adventure, though, and with the snowstorm they’ve been in my room for a week. I was a little worried about the ‘I’ over there – it’s a little dicey – but they held up!”
The contributions of the participating students to Lit Fest, of course, can not be overlooked. Aside from their skillful performances, the attending eleventh graders eagerly and colorfully answered the request for a spirited audience. In an atmosphere bursting with enthusiasm, spectators donned matching outfits, touted handmade signs, improvised cheers and chants, and handed out high-fives to classmates answering questions in the Knowledge Bowl. None were more elated than Mr. Manero’s fourth period class, the winners of the Bowl – besides perhaps Shane Hennessey, who was recognized as the most spirited audience member with a Wawa giftcard.
Even with the high-energy turnout of this year’s Lit Fest, McKee has even greater expectations for the future of the event. Ultimately, the goal is to get as many students as possible fully involved in the excitement, whether that means entering a contest or being determined to nail the Knowledge Bowl questions or simply being the loudest voice in the audience.
“I would love to see more students get involved in the artistic contests…I think that the more kids who get involved in that respect, [the better]. I would also love to have so many speakers that I have to expand it to a bigger class time – but we had ten very strong speakers this time, and I thought they all did a great job. I always say, ‘The more the merrier!’”
For more photos from Lit-Fest, coutresy of NPSD, check out http://npsd.phanfare.com/6427537