Upper
February 26, 2021
National Merit Finalists
The Seven Hills School continues its tradition of excellence with the announcement of our nine National Merit Finalists—about 11% of our graduating class of 2021. Congratulations to the following 2021 National Merit Finalists: Owen Foster, Jonathan Gai, William Hawgood, David Kiley, Dhruv Mahajan, Charlie Ringel, Megan Tan, Andrew Yang, and Meg Yuan. Each year, the National Merit Scholarship Program honors talented U.S. high school students for academic excellence. Approximately 1.5 million students from 22,000 high schools across the country enter the program.
Comparative Analysis of Contemporary Works in English 12
Students in Nate Gleiner’s English 12 class concluded their reading of Kiese Laymon’s “Heavy” by connecting the memoir to a contemporary artistic work with similar themes. Students both wrote comparative analyses of their chosen work and the memoir, and they distilled this written analysis into a presentation for the other members of the class. Students chose a wide variety of artists and sources to discuss and analyze, including musicians (Kendrick Lamar, Lizzo, Marvin Gaye), films (“Remember the Titans”, “Hidden Figures”), and television shows (“Gray’s Anatomy,” “Black-ish”). They offered examples for comparison and discussed how each creator employs his or her genre to address modern social issues.
Effecting Change through Literature Studies
Upper School English teacher Marielle Newton’s recent revamp of the study of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” evolved into a powerful opportunity for her students to effect change throughout the local community. “My students are now looking at a number of topics on contemporary race, such as education and housing disparities, the legacy of slavery, white privilege, Karens, and more,” said Newton. “Following each lesson, my students work to find videos or articles to read and then do an activity. One of my students is studying education disparities based on property tax funding for public schools and mentioned the organization, Donors Choose, and how many teachers have to get things for their classroom with their own money.” Newton said the query turned into real-life opportunities for her students to fund a local Cincinnati organization. “We decided to help fund a kindergarten teacher at White Oak Middle School who wanted to provide books for her students, many of whom do not have books at home. We’ve been talking about empathy and its power a lot, so they liked the book and emotions tie-in,” said Newton. “I thought they might each give a dollar or two. But among the seven of them, they’ve already made substantial donations. It is amazing to see this student-led initiative grow from a curriculum-based presentation I didn’t plan or orchestrate.”
Celebrating the Lunar New Year
Seven Hills’ annual Upper School dumpling making activity did not take place this year, the Year of the Ox, due to social distancing requirements in the pandemic. But, determined to keep the tradition going in some format, Chinese language teacher Mia Wu designed a new type of celebration. “We worked on decorations for the classroom and a display board outside of the classroom,” said Wu. “Each class also made short videos about Chinese New Year culture, and we watched the videos.”
A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Zoom Style
Ninth-graders in Meredith Brown’s English class recently performed an abridged version of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” via Zoom. After two workshops with actors at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company in early February, Brown’s students developed their characters through several in-class rehearsals. During the two-day performance, students used virtual backgrounds of enchanted forests and cozy indoor spaces to set the scene for their characters and performed their lines while wearing costumes and props to depict Puck, Hermia, Nick Bottom, and others. Brown notes, “Plays are written to be performed. Although our class is not an acting class and the students are not graded based on their skill as performers, the experience of thinking like a performer greatly enriches their understanding. They know the story much better now than they did when they initially encountered it simply as readers.” The choice of Zoom was also intentional, said Brown. “Our classes have a few students who have been learning by remote throughout the year and others who are occasionally remote due to COVID safety measures, so it made sense to plan for a Zoom-based performance that could accommodate all students equally, regardless of circumstances. Shakespeare’s works live on, centuries after his lifetime, because performers and audiences continue to see their own lives mirrored in Shakespeare’s treatment of timeless themes. In the last year, theater companies at every level, from school troupes to professional companies, have adapted to the challenges of our day by adapting their performances to Zoom, YouTube, and similar platforms. We simply did the same!”
Seven Hills Students Claim Rare Recognition with Cincinnati's Overture Awards
Three Seven Hills students are moving on to the final round of Overtures! Congratulations to senior Alex Frohn and junior Jenny Hu in the creative writing category and to senior Andrew Yang in the instrumental category. This year, the prestigious, rare recognition is even more underscored by the fact that only four students in Greater Cincinnati won in the creative writing category and Jenny and Alex are two of them, said Upper School English teacher Caleb Paull. “Jenny and Alex are remarkable writers who actually have careers as authors if they choose,” said Paull, who has taught both students in his creative writing classes. “Jenny is very actively involved in our literary magazine and it’s really a much-deserved recognition for both of them. I really think these are two students we ‘re going to see published in the future, if that is the direction in which they want to take their careers.”
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Five Stingers Sign to Play in College
Five Stingers from the Class of 2024 signed their letters of intent to continue their athletic careers in college.
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