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www.charltonvillager.com Friday, June 6, 2008
•THE CHARLTON VILLAGER•9
LEARNING
The sky’s the limit…
HILL STUDENTS PUT PEN TO PAPER IN CREATIVE WRITING CLASS
BY PATRICK SKAHILL
TIMES STAFF WRITER
DUDLEY — From essays on the
Russian Revolution to lab reports
on the freezing properties of liquid
nitrogen, high schoolers are
used to doing a lot of writing during
their academic career.
Unfortunately, however, teachers
are not often at liberty to give
writers much leeway when it
comes to subject matter.
Perhaps that’s why Sean
Cusick’s class at Shepherd Hill
Regional High School this spring
was such a smash hit this semester.
Throughout the spring, juniors
and seniors in Cusick’s Creative
Writing class worked on producing
fully original novels.
Brainstorming without any formal
guidelines, each of the students
were encouraged to explore
their own creativity and come up
with original characters and plot
lines, all of which were then condensed
into bound books, to be
housed in the school’s library.
Some of the novels will even be
submitted for publication to the
Library of Congress and independent
publishing houses. All
students’ works will be entered in
Amazon.com’s “Find a Novelist
Contest.”
While Cusick said getting the
upperclassmen onboard with the
project during a semester when
“senioritis” is usually in full
swing wasn’t an easy task, he
Two Charlton students
make Academy’s honors list
WORCESTER — The following Charlton students
were named to the second Honor Roll at
Worcester Academy in the 2007-08 school year:
IAN ROBINSON, 11th grade, and LAUREN BARTON,
seventh grade.
noted how he was astounded by
the positive response to the project
he got from the students.
“The first day of class I came in
and told the students, ‘You’re
going to write a book,’“ he said.
“I’ve never done anything like this
... but every single one of them
tried and some came up with some
extraordinary things.”
Most of the students chose to
write about characters and subjects
close to them, with the majority
of the young writers penning
works about high school-aged
characters and situations.
Throughout the process, students
shared their work with others,
engaging in peer editing sessions
to exchange ideas and work
on new ways to approach their
writing.
While the peer review process
was helpful in pushing many of
the stories forward, producing stories
running upwards of 100 pages
and beyond was no easy task.
Not surprisingly, many students
said they hit some roadblocks
along the way.
One technique Cusick used to
help students conquer their
“writer’s block” was the “I wonder
if” methodology, which student
Corey Latour explained as particularly
useful during his creative
process.
“We’d come up with random situations
for the characters and
work off those,” Latour said, noting
how the process promoted
stream of consciousness writing
that helped take the stories in
unexpected and exciting directions.
Overall, students expressed
their enjoyment of the class, saying
it was a welcome creative
break during their highly structured
and challenging days.
“It’s a release from the day,” said
Junior Dayna Menard, noting
how she looks forward to the class,
which often features music to help
facilitate students’ writing.
All students recorded their stories
in a hardbound professional
journal, 30 of which were donated
to the class free of charge from
Ampad Journals.
“In my 13 years of teaching, I’ve
never had a class quite like this,”
Cusick said. “My greatest joy was
every single kid in class did it ...
STUDENT BRIEFS
Local students graduate
from Nichols College
DUDLEY — The following Charlton students
graduated from Nichols College on May 10:
JAMIE L. STEEN, ABA;RAYMOND V. L EFEBVRE,
BSBA; MARIANNE F. ROEMER, MBA; and
MELISSA S. FOSKETT,MBA.
Courtesy photo
Juniors and seniors at Shepherd Hill Regional High School hold copies of novels
they wrote for their Creative Writing class elective. Throughout the semester, students
worked on the books, some of which will be submitted to Amazon.com, the
Library of Congress and publishers around the country.
and that really blew my mind.”
“They definitely surpassed my
expectations,” he added with a
wide grin. “I know when I was in
high school I wouldn’t have been
capable of doing this.”
Students in Mr. Cusick’s creative
writing class include Laurie
Bickley, Stephen Bjorn, Nathan
Cathline, Thalia Curtis, Jill
Doherty, Jessica Downer, Daniel
Garney, Benjamin Gauthier,
Joseph Germain, Rachel Gervais,
Jacob Hilt, Olivia Holden, Ryan
Kasik, Roxanne Kertley, Jessica
Koukoulis, Ashly Landry, Dayna
Menard, Benjamin Norowski,
Eric Ray, Jennifer Reis, Kristen
Ritchie, Kara St. Francis, Jesse St.
Marie, Samantha Waller and
Brian Westgate.
Charlton resident graduates
from Fitchburg State
FITCHBURG — GINA MILOSH of Charlton
graduated with a BS in communications media
from Fitchburg State College during commencement
exercises Saturday, May 17.
BAY PATH HIGH SCHOOL
BREAKFAST MENU
Friday, June 6: French toast/syrup,
strawberries/cream, orange/apple
juice, 1/2 pint milk
Monday, June 9: bagel/cream
cheese/ 4 ounce cup yogurt,
orange/apple juice, 1/2 pint milk
Tuesday, June 10: eggs/bacon,
toast/jelly, orange/apple juice, 1/2
pint milk
Wednesday, June 11: French
toast/syrup, 4-ounce cup yogurt,
orange/apple juice, ? pint milk
Thursday, June 12: grilled English
muffin/jelly
4-ounce cup yogurt, orange/apple
juice
1/2 pint milk
Friday, June 13: ham, egg, cheese
muffin; orange/apple juice, 1/2 pint
milk
BAY PATH HIGH SCHOOL
LUNCH MENU
Friday, June 6: breaded chicken dippers/sauce,
baked French fries, sweet
corn, fruit, milk, dessert
Monday, June 9: breaded pork
chop/gravy, seasoned rice, sweet
peas, roll/butter, fruit, milk, dessert
Tuesday, June 10: BBQ ribs, baked
French fries, roll/butter, buttered
corn, fruit, dessert, milk
Wednesday, June 11:
spaghetti/meat sauce, tossed salad,
French bread/butter, fruit, milk,
dessert
Thursday, June 12: grilled chicken
sandwich, chicken noodle soup, bag
of Fritos, fruit, milk, dessert
Friday, June 13: manager’s choice,
fruit, milk, dessert
JUNK CAR REMOVAL
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Bicalho Auto Sales
508-523-6830
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