Mentor Teacher and Her Prized Pupil

Christian Sanchez-Bartz, a junior in Millikan's COMPASS program, placed second recently at the state level of the national "Poetry Out Loud" competition sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Over 40,000 students from 27 counties participated. Supported by Millikan Speech Coach Erin Hill, Christian recited poetry including, "For the Young Who Want To," by Marge Piercy, "The People, Yes" by Carl Sandburg, and "I Hear America Singing" by Walt Whitman.

Erin Hill is the type of teacher who is open to suggestions and requests. Last spring, she was approached about offering a speech class at Millikan. She took the idea and ran with it. She used her background from high school and college speech courses to invigorate an English elective, Elements of Oral Communication. To nobody's surprise, Millikan's new speech program has drawn great attention and praise because of the individual successes of Erin Hill's students.
Her star pupil is Christian Sanchez-Bartz. Christian came to Millikan from Concordia Lutheran School. He is a junior in the COMPASS Academy. After spending two years in Millikan's theater arts program, he wanted to try something new that still involved performing in some capacity. He expected Millikan's new speech class would allow him to "think outside the box, conduct research, and think." He has not been disappointed. He discovered that Speech allows him to compete in fall and spring competitions in such areas as interpretations, impromptu, expository, debate, and several other categories. The class travels to tournaments, mainly on Saturdays during the year. Erin Hill and another teacher who assists, Patricia Richardson, accompany their students to such places as Arcadia and San Gabriel.
Christian's greatest accomplishment came recently when he placed second in the Poetry Out Loud competition. His second-place finished earned him $175 and a trophy. In addition, Millikan was presented $200 for poetry books for the library. Finally, Representative Bonnie Lowenthal talked to him about applying for a possibly internship.
Erin Hill says her class "gives pupils a forum for their ideas and a chance to be heard."
Students interested in Speech should contact Erin Hill at Millikan.