Summer Reading Merges Into Washington Program Experience
For the first time, the Washington Program sought to connect students’ summer reading with relevant local places and experiences in the hopes of making deeper connections between the books and the world around EHS.
The ninth-grade class, having read about Cold War-era Cuba in Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings by Margarita Engle, sampled Cuban cuisine and listened to some faculty members present about their trip to the nation last summer.
Excerpts and short stories about Washington, D.C., came to life for tenth graders, as they split into several groups to discuss the intersection of race, politics, and the recent history of the city. One group toured Kingman Park, a northeastern neighborhood near RFK Stadium. The readings focused on segregation in the city.
“We talked a lot about the tensions and opportunities as neighborhoods or communities are changing,” said English Teacher Molly Pugh. “We considered the neighborhood that existed when the story was written, what it is presently, and what it is becoming.”
Another group of sophomores went to Howard University where they learned about the protests that are referred to in Larry Neal’s 1973 short story “Our Bright Tomorrows.” The rest of the sophomore class visited various theater groups to discuss themes related to Langston Hughes’ play “The Trouble with Angels,” including segregation, integration, and politics from different viewpoints. Andy Shallal, owner of the Busboys and Poets café, talked with students at the 14th-street flagship location about the Hughes’ influence on activism, food, gathering spaces, and D.C. politics.
The junior class went to to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The students worked on creating a digital archive of the artifacts they found most compelling from the history exhibits on the Middle Passage and beginnings of slavery. They also were challenged to think about how a key theme from their English summer reading assignment, Arthur Miller's “Death of a Salesman,” could be explored at the museum. They worked together to see how the story that unfolds in the exhibits relates to the idea of the American Dream.
Back on campus, the seniors celebrated Ethiopian culture through music and food. They explored Dinaw Mengestu's "The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears," a novel set in DC's Ethiopian community. The students sampled a buffet of Ethiopian food from Enat Restaurant and participated in a performance by Feedel Band along with a Q and A session with the musicians.
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Excerpts and short stories about Washington, D.C., came to life for tenth graders, as they split into several groups to discuss the intersection of race, politics, and the recent history of the city. One group toured Kingman Park, a northeastern neighborhood near RFK Stadium. The readings focused on segregation in the city.
“We talked a lot about the tensions and opportunities as neighborhoods or communities are changing,” said English Teacher Molly Pugh. “We considered the neighborhood that existed when the story was written, what it is presently, and what it is becoming.”
Another group of sophomores went to Howard University where they learned about the protests that are referred to in Larry Neal’s 1973 short story “Our Bright Tomorrows.” The rest of the sophomore class visited various theater groups to discuss themes related to Langston Hughes’ play “The Trouble with Angels,” including segregation, integration, and politics from different viewpoints. Andy Shallal, owner of the Busboys and Poets café, talked with students at the 14th-street flagship location about the Hughes’ influence on activism, food, gathering spaces, and D.C. politics.
The junior class went to to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The students worked on creating a digital archive of the artifacts they found most compelling from the history exhibits on the Middle Passage and beginnings of slavery. They also were challenged to think about how a key theme from their English summer reading assignment, Arthur Miller's “Death of a Salesman,” could be explored at the museum. They worked together to see how the story that unfolds in the exhibits relates to the idea of the American Dream.
Back on campus, the seniors celebrated Ethiopian culture through music and food. They explored Dinaw Mengestu's "The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears," a novel set in DC's Ethiopian community. The students sampled a buffet of Ethiopian food from Enat Restaurant and participated in a performance by Feedel Band along with a Q and A session with the musicians.
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