ENGLISH FESTIVAL Pupils get lessons about life

Warren and Campbell students presented oral histories at the festival.
By JoANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Joan Bauer and her family moved to New York City on Sept. 14, 2001 -- three days after terrorist attacks toppled the World Trade Center towers that would have completed the skyline view from her new office window.
"We had wanted to live in the city for years and years," said the author, who had lived in Connecticut until the move. "We were finally going to realize our dreams."
But Bauer realized more than that.
"I learned about fear and taking small steps out of fear," she said Thursday as she spoke to middle-school pupils at the 26th annual English Festival at Youngstown State University.
"I was pretty convinced I couldn't write there anymore," she said of the new office with a view. "I was frozen with fear."
But she started unpacking, and among the first items she uncovered was a small, decorative hanging pillow emblazoned with one word: Hope.
Hung it in window
She had been given the pillow as a gift after she had finished her "Hope was Here" novel. She hung the item in her window, next to her distorted view and, every day, she tried to work. Every day she saw the single word. Eventually, she was able to write in that place overlooking the new New York.
Bauer, a New York Times best-selling author, is one of several featured speakers at the three-day festival, which closes today after hosting 3,000 pupils from 165 middle and high schools from local areas and other parts of the country.
Events
Besides hearing from writers and other professionals, youngsters participate in workshops and compete in writing contests.
During her discussion, Bauer told her class how she must get to know her characters before she writes about them. She also spoke of how she cries as she writes and how she also has discovered that "everybody should have a red clown nose" -- like the one Hope wore in Bauer's story -- to help them learn that "no matter what happens in life, it is possible to move through it."
"Bad things are going to happen, but if we can face them, if we can look them in the eye, we can climb out," she said.
A new feature of this year's festival is the Wallpaper Project, a dramatic presentation on Ohio and Mahoning Valley history presented by students from Campbell Memorial High School and Warren G. Harding High School in Warren.
The oral-history production is based on the "From Here: A Century of Voices from Ohio" presentation that traveled the state last year.
Performer Romell Graves, a Campbell senior, said the title refers to history being like wallpaper in a house, where layer after layer can be pulled back to reveal pieces of the past.
"Say what you have to before you die. Somebody needs to know," says Campbell junior Casey Colbert, as part of the performance. Comments in the presentation come from recorded interviews with Ohio residents intermixed with excerpts from Bauer's "Backwater," a novel that speaks to the importance of preserving oral histories.
Youngstown's stories
Student actors said they learned that Youngstown has a lot of stories. They also caught glimpses of the racism and other bigotry that is part of Ohio's past.
"It shows you how time goes on but everything stays the same," said performer Zoe Anthony, a Campbell junior. "Life is circular. We learn. We lose our rose-colored glasses and move on, and every generation has to go through that."
Thursday's results from the 26th annual Youngstown State University English Festival:
Barbara Brothers Writing Award for Teachers
First place: Colleen Ruggieri, Boardman High School.
English Festival Art Contest
First: Kelly Peoples, Howland High School.
Second: John Guffey, Howland High School.
Third: Colleen George, Cardinal Mooney High School.
Not-So-Trivial-Pursuit
First: Marissa Games, Lordstown; Anna Habib, Shenango; Priscilla Brocklehurst, Kennedy Catholic; Brianna Groubert, Cardinal Mooney; Matt Pedicini, Liberty; Angela Rovnyak, Cardinal Mooney; Kayla Lenkner, Greenville; Amanda Poling, Howland; Laura Betz, Rocky Grove; Rachel Miller, Chaney; Michael Stevens, Niles McKinley; Heather Brunton, Mineral Ridge; Lauren Blase, Boardman; Samar Boulos, Boardman; Mary Korda, Cardinal Mooney; Jessie Lanterman, Crestview; Rochelle Ritchey, Rocky Grove.
Second: Chris Simmons, Crestview; Kristen Angelo, Hubbard; Bethany Seyman, Howland; Erica Gibson, Lordstown; Erica Gibson, Lordstown; Tim Best, Columbiana; Zack Sutliff, Lordstown; Lindsay Brainard, Badger; Erica Wenger, Sharon; Emily Krygowski, Ursuline; Shanell Hall, Lordstown; Christina Royce, Girard; Callista Conzetti, Poland Seminary; Laura Cirillo, Kennedy Catholic; John Guffey, Howland; Cassandra Pallai, Cardinal Mooney.
Third: Bill Vennette, Lordstown; Joy Ammons, Greenville; Krista Barr, Mathews; Jamie Brunkenhuefer, Hubbard; Hannah Turner, Greenville; Kate Lorenzetti, Howland; Susan Novak, Niles McKinley; Alison Kemp, Howland; Michaela Caventer, Chaney; Ryan Swift, Niles McKinley; Shane Downing, Badger; Cody Reese, Western Reserve; Rebekah Stahlman, Rocky Grove.
Language Games
First: Maggie Craig, Ursuline; Becky Davison, Champion; Adam Boughman, Rocky Grove; Lauren Fisher, Poland; Nicole Thompson, Champion; Laura Gump, Howland; Melissa Shuttic, Lakeview; C'est Waila Beck, Chaney; Lauren Spadafora, Mathews; Sara Bernstein, Poland; Brittany Sinn, Lordstown; Allison Hall, Jamestown; Kerri Shelton, Liberty; Nick Ferrara, Brookfield; Jessyca Finnerty, Mathews.
Second: Kylie Mather, Liberty; Brad Deeter, Rocky Grove; Dustin Henegan, Greenville; Anthony Custodio, Rayen; Jen Harroff, Crestview; Steve Basiljell, Chaney; Jen Trenkelbach, Leetonia; Serene Shehabi, Howland; Dan Zeleznik, Western Reserve; Kara Phipps, Rocky Grove; Marissa Young, Shenango; Jen Bennett, Lordstown; Danielle Huschka, Southern Local; Bess Heidenreich, Howland; Katherine Kawecki, Jackson-Milton; Erin Hoffman, West Middlesex; Charlie Billock, Poland.
Writing Games
First: Roxanne Johnson, Chaney; Frank Ballone, Campbell Memorial; Amy Adovasio, Sharon; Tricia Davighon, Chaney; Elaine Williams, Wilmington Area.
Second: Zo & euml; Kapp, Rocky Grove; Jewel Bell, Rocky Grove; Cassie Miller, Mineral Ridge; Kari Solomon, Lordstown; Erica Wenger, Sharon.
Third: Rikki Vesy, Springfield Local; Tara Barnett, Maplewood; Erin McCullough, East Palestine; Jon Sokol, Austintown Fitch.
Fourth: Kelly Peoples, Howland; Dominique DeSanti, Warren G. Harding; Shanley Monroe, Ursuline; Sarah Schindler, South Range; Emily Krygowski, Ursuline.
Journalism Workshop
First: Michael Cramer, Girard; John Paul Gallo, David Anderson.
Second: Hannah Miller, Joseph Badger; Elyse Healey, Cardinal Mooney.
Third: Amanada Purnell, Jackson-Milton; Sam Yambrovich, South Range.
Impromptu Writing
First: Kayla Yurco, Howland.
Second: Shanley Monroe, Ursuline.
Third: Lorraine Baer, Howland.
Fourth: Max Altman, Chaney; Bethany Shaffer, Wilmington Area.
Fifth: Valerie Desmond, Girard; Dan Rotar, Cardinal Mooney.
Sixth: Bailey Hinkle, Hubbard; Cassandra Pallai, Cardinal Mooney.
Seventh: Quentin Duda, Ursuline; Hillary Kosnac, Greenville.
Eighth: Lindy Grace Neuberger, Trumbull Career & amp; Technical Center; Bryan Allen, Greenville.
Candace Gay Memorial Awards
First: Jonathan C. Fraser, Greenville; Teacher: Karen Kollar; Principal: Steven K. Ross.
Second: Rebekah Stahlman, Rocky Grove; Teacher: Jayanne Stahlman.
Third: Anthony Caraballo, Boardman; Teacher: Vivian Axiotis.
Fourth: Jessica Slaughter, East Palestine; Teacher: Karen Mitchell.
Fifth: Joanne Kim, Howland; Teacher: Melanie Loew.
Finalists: Kayla Yurco, Kelly Peoples, Laura Gump, Alison Mrowka, Lorraine Baer, and Rebecca McCullough, all Howland; Daniel Rotar, Carmela Kiraly, and Cassandra Pallai, all Cardinal Mooney; James Vasconi, Sharon; Hannah Miller, Badger; Alyssa Hartman, Maplewood; Jamie Serenko, Boardman; Shanley Monroe, Ursuline.