Young Authors Showcase and Symposium to feature Demopolis students
In what Demopolis educators hope will be an annual event, student writers will be recognized at the first Young Authors Showcase and Symposium.
At the event, to be held at 5 p.m. Monday, Jan. 25, at Demopolis High School, 23 young writers will be interviewed on stage in a talk show format and later will display project boards in the gymnasium.
Sharing the stage with them will be keynote speaker and children’s author Robert Little. He and five other published authors with local ties will be on hand to discuss their work and provide books for sale.
The Young Authors Showcase, the outcome of a brainstorming session among Superintendent Kyle Kallhoff and teachers, is being spearheaded by the librarians at each school.
“I knew they are working hard on writing” during this school term, said Kallhoff.
Excitement for the symposium is building among the teachers.
Demopolis Middle School librarian Ginger Godwin said she is pleased that an event is focusing on “something that is strictly academic. I think it’s pretty exciting.”
“We wanted to showcase those who have other talents” than athletics, added Emily Windham, librarian at U.S. Jones Elementary.
Each school used its own method of choosing writers. At USJ and Westside Elementary, teachers chose the best in class and submitted samples of the children’s work. Windham said at her school a committee composed of the counselor, reading teacher, librarian and principal each read the writing samples and selected two students from each grade.
Godwin, said the DMS language arts and writing teachers and the sixth grade writing class chose students from the papers submitted.
“It was a hard choice,” said Godwin, but the ones selected showed more maturity.
At DHS the English teachers nominated students, and those who wanted to take part turned in a writing sample, said librarian Cynthia Whitlock. Three teachers from other disciplines read each one and narrowed the list to five.
Windham said each of the student authors will have a project board set up in the gym and will answer questions of people attending the event.
Every person attending will receive a ticket for door prizes, and all children will be given a free, age-appropriate book as long as supplies last.
Little, whose latest book is “Dream Power,” not only will give a talk at the symposium but will speak at WES and USJ during the day.
Other authors taking part in the event are Jason Smith and Jessica Meigs, both Demopolis natives and DHS graduates; Erma Banks, a Demopolis native and former teacher in the school system; Keri Riggins, and Dr. Sarah P. Odom.
Students chosen for their writing are:
WES: kindergarten – Addison Abrams and Jack Jackson; first grade – Liam Ward and Paige Williams, and second grade – Madison Branch and Molly Stephens.
USJ: third grade – Hillary Harrison and Anna Allgood; fourth grade – Jarell Waller and Charlie Grace Card, and fifth grade – Sariah Smith and Tanner Wideman.
DMS: sixth grade – Alesha Taylor, Avery Schumacher and Josie McAlpine; seventh grade – Tori Horne, and eighth grade – Ashanti Bell and Joseph Barnes.
DHS: 10th grade – Mary Maddox Cook; 11th grade – Gabrielle Lewis, and 12th grade Nikita Branch, Casey Roberts and Madeline Warren.
The symposium and showcase is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.