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Neighbors | Submitted.Austintown Fitch High School students, from left, (front) Juan Gomez, Emily Wildman, Stephanie Mulligan, Conor Murphy; (back) Ashley Fannin, Elise Williams, Jadyn Glenn, Susanna Suy Trigg, Sadie Hager, Sujey Negrete, Alaina Kapturasky Dan Varley, Mackenzie Kuhns, Dan Shrader, Willow Keller and Jiana Gearo posed outside YSU for the annual English Festival.
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Neighbors | Submitted.Austintown twelfth-grader Stephanie Mulligan posed with author Neal Shusterman as he signed books for students who attended YSU's annual English Festival where Shusterman spoke as the guest author.
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Neighbors | Submitted.Nationally known author Neal Shusterman signed books for attendees of YSU's 41st annual English Festival event.
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Neighbors | Submitted.Students who participated in Youngstown State University's annual English Festival read a number of books for the program which was hosted April 10 and 12.
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Neighbors | Submitted.Austintown tenth- through twelfth-graders attended YSU's 41st annual English Festival, including (front) Conor Murphy, Stephanie Mulligan, Juan Gomez; (middle) Ashley Fannin, Willow Keller, Sadie Hager, Mackenzie Kuhns, Jenna Rodgers; (back) Jiana Gearo, Susanna Suy Trigg, Jadyn Glenn, Sujey Negrete, Emily Wildman, Dan VArley, Alaina Kapturasky, Dan Shrader, Patricia Hartsough, Elise Williams and Andrea Neff.
By JESSICA HARKER
Austintown High School students attended the 41st annual English Festival at Youngstown State University.
Patricia Hartsough, the group advisor, has been coordinator for the event for 15 years.
“I have been with this program since the very beginning,” Hartsough said, “It’s definitely grown, the very first one there were just a few hundred students and it was only one day.”
During the event students from schools all over the area gathered at YSU for English related workshops and lectures.
To attend the event students have to read a collection of seven books.
Students in 7th through 9th grade read a different set of books than students in 10th through 12th.
“They are sitting down and reading seven new books, and often more than those if they find an author they enjoy,” Hartsough said.
Each year an author of one of the books on the list attends the event as a guest author.
This years guest author was Neil Shusterman, author of “Scythe” and “Unwind” which were both on the read list for English Festival this year.
“He related really well with the kids and he got really personal with them,” Hartsough said.
Students from Austintown also attended a number of classes and writing competitions during the event.
English festival offered a journalism workshop, writing labs, and impromptu writing contests.
Austintown students Alaina Kapturasky won Impromptu Writing, Jiana Gearo won the limericks competition, and Sadie Hager won the game not so trivial pursuit.
Ninth grade student Alivia Franklin won 3rd place in the Journalism Workshop, and Ethan Short also was awarded honorable mention in Impromptu Writing.
“When they go to festival they meet other kids from other schools,” Hartsough said, “I would say a lot of friendships are formed both within our building and beyond our walls, and they develop friendships that they might not have before.”