The English-Speaking Union 2008 Shakespeare Competition

Congratulations to sophomore Nora Pace for being Maine South's representative in the 2008 Shakespeare Competition. Nora was a finalist in the competition held at Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier on February 15th. A special thanks goes to Mrs. Higgins-Spoleti for organizing the local competition at Maine South for the first time this year and attending the competition with Nora.
English Department Hawk Pride Initiative


During the month of December, the Maine South English Department and its students will embark on a goal to donate 1,500,000 grains of rice to those in need by sharpening their vocabulary skills through adaptive testing at Freerice.com. If we reach our goal, this will provide hundreds of meals to the hungry through the United Nations World Food Program.

Visit the website again soon to see our progress towards meeting and possibly exceeding our goal.

Week One Total: 495,590 grains of rice donated!
Week One + Week Two Total: 1,394,160 grains of rice donated!
Week One + Week Two + Week Three Total: 4,018,180 grains of rice donated!

The 4,018,180 donated grains of rice translate in to 487 meals for hungry people throughout the world and 209,909 correct answers registered by Maine South students to the game's vocabulary questions. To view a PowerPoint presentation with more on our results, click here.

THANK YOU to all of the Maine South students and staff that contributed to this effort!

For more information on our project, click here.


2007 NCTE Achievement Award in Writing

Congratulations to senior Karen Perille who is Maine South's recipient of the 2007 NCTE Achievement Award in Writing. This award was established by NCTE in 1957 to encourage high school students in their writing and to recognize publicly some of the best student writers in the nation. Karen was chosen from 1,937 students nominated in their junior year by their teachers, from 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, Canada, and American Schools Abroad. Karen is one of the 595 overall award winners and one of the 38 winners from the state of Illinois. Once again, congratulations to Karen and the English Department on this extraordinary accomplishment.

NCTE recoginzes the 2007 Achievement Award in Writing winners here.

Little Known Facts About the English Department

Watch this section of the web page each month for new and interesting information about the teachers in the Maine South English Department.

First Installment - English Teachers' First Concert
Second Installment - English Teachers' Favorite Halloween Costume
Third Installment - English Teachers' Favorite Holiday Present

AP Test Results


Congratulations to all students and staff involved in the very impressive results on the English - Language and Composition and English - Literature AP exams.

English - Language and Composition Exam

73 students took the exam and 66 of them received a 3, 4, or 5 for a 89.6% pass rate. This impressive success rate includes an 11% increase in the number of students taking the test (from 66 tests in 2006 to 73 tests in 2007).

English - Literature Exam

101 students took the exam and 97 of them received a 3, 4, or 5 for a 96.1% pass rate. This impressive success rate includes a 33% increase in the number of students taking the test (from 76 tests in 2006 to 101 in 2007).

Department Award Winner

Congratulations to senior Kelley Hungerford our 2006-2007 English Department Award Winner. She will be attending Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon in the fall.

 

 

Created and maintained by M. Parrilli - English Department Chair
Last update: January 2007