RHHS English Department—Autumn 2022 Update
The Autumn
of 2022 marks a period of growth and celebration for the RHHS English
department. There are numerous student achievements that we would like to
acknowledge. First, we would like to congratulate Andreea Murariu for winning
the Marie Pick Award for Proficiency in English Writing, Leah Ben Tzur for
winning the Robert MacDonald Award for Excellence in English Literature, and Amanda
Saxe for winning the Edna Izzard Award for Proficiency in English and Drama.
The students who received the awards for highest marks in their courses were: Maya
Wahby (ENG4UE), Jaeyong Lee (ENG4U), and Daniella Gavrilov (ENG4C).
We
would also like to congratulate Soren Mohammadinasr and Alyssa Vorobey who were both finalists in this
year’s OSSTF Creative Writing Contest. As
well we want to acknowledge the great turn out for the internationally
recognized Advanced Placement English exams, with over seventy students
representing RHHS. The results from the 2022 AP English exams were fantastic: nearly
one quarter of the seventy participating students received perfect scores on
two separate internationally recognized AP English exams and the students’ mean
scores were fifteen per cent higher than the Global average.
Another incredible achievement occurred in the
spring of 2022 when for the first time in our school’s history the RHHS Slam
Poetry Team won the YRDSB Slam Poetry Championship. Students at all
YRDSB schools within the board were invited to come out and
perform an original poem, offering them an opportunity to share their thoughts
and voices with their peers. teachers, parents, families, and
administrators. A number of remarkable performances filled the afternoon
of verse, showcasing the literary and creative talents of YRDSB students. Although students
on the participating teams all delivered wonderful performances, RHHS
prevailed to win the YRDSB Slam Poetry Championship. Congratulations
go to the RHHS Slam Poetry Team, and in particular, the team
members, Roxana Rafiei for her wonderful recitation of
"Roses," Sarah Jagani with her moving verse, "The Final
Embrace," Darcy Lock with her engaging piece, "Will it
Start with You?", and Alyssa Vorobey with her heartfelt composition,
"If You Tell Me To Breathe, I'll Scream." Aarani Selvaganesh,
who performed her poem, "What did we do? and Vanessa Wang, who sang
her original composition, "Whylah Falls," are also to be commended
for their wonderful performances that rounded out the afternoon's events.
RHHS English students attended several very engaging virtual creative
writing workshops this year. RHHS alumnus Pardis Aliakbarkhani inspired us with
a selection of readings from her three books A Drink of the Caspian, The
Siren, and For Pomegranates as well as leading us through a poetry
workshop focused on self-empowerment. At the 2022 Festival of Literary
Diversity students were enthralled by the Spoken Word Showcase and learned
valuable lessons from Jack Wang about the
creative craft involved in writing a short story in addition to the details
that go into publishing a collection. Film producer Abdi Nazemian joined our
class live from Hollywood to discuss what it is like to write for film and
television and what it takes to build a career as a screenwriter; while Jesse
Wente mesmerized students with the stories behind his national bestseller Unreconciled:
Family Truth and Resistance. We were also fortunate enough to meet
with stage and screen actors John Jarvis and Marvin Karon for a workshop on
writing dramatic monologues. These were all wonderful opportunities for our
students to explore the immense diversity in the Canadian publishing industry
and to ask questions about the various pathways to success in the writing
profession.
If you have any questions
regarding the English program at RHHS please feel free to contact the English
department at any time. Take care and stay safe.