The amplifier., June 01, 2010, Page 3, Image 3

2010_________________________________News____________________________________3
Honors Humanities night explores imagination
A lison F ieldhouse
What is the reality of
imagination? This was
the question posed and
answered by students during
Honors Humanities night
May 10. The 22 projects
ranged from original musical
scores, such as a piece titled
"Divina Speranza" composed
by Michael Biancardi,
senior, to movies, art and
performance pieces. This is
the seventh and final year
that Barbara Murray, the
honors humanities creator
and teacher, will lead the
class.
"I am so lucky to have the
privilege of listening to these
kids talk about and share
their views on the questions
and topics we focus on,”
Murray said. "Everyone is
so respectful of the opinions
and views of others in the
class. It makes for very
interesting discussion."
Students shared the
work they've spent a
total of six months on.
They first introduced the
question and then gave a
reading of different quotes
about imagination. After
a few words from Murray,
Biancardi conducted his
original score performed
by the Symphonic Orchestra
for the audience of students,
teachers, friends and family.
Then, people had to decide
which track to attend during
each session.
"I really enjoyed seeing all
of the hard work and passion
the other students put into
their work. The end products
for all of them were stunning,"
Georgia Muggli, junior, said.
"I only wish that I could have
seen more of them,"
There were many different
interpretations of the question
and the creativity of the
students was evident through
the answers they formed in
response to the question.
"For me, imagination is
perspective. There are three
ways we imagine reality:
with truth, optimism, and
pessimism," Alexandra Mink,
senior, said. She spent 33
hours on hand drawn photos
for her project, which was a
video.
Along with Mink's project,
Tommy Pittenger and Neelou
Etesami, seniors, also created
videos to express their answer
to the question. Etesami took
at least 1,000 photos for her
stop-motion animation film.
"Reality and imagination
share a mutual relationship in
our world. What we perceive
feeds our imaginations, which
in turn, give back to the real
world in the form of arts,
sciences, ethics and just about
everything else," Etesami said.
Biancardi's idea for the
music began with notes
that he recorded into his
cell phone during a waking
period in the middle of the
night. His original score was
the only project to be viewed
by everyone who attended.
"It took me about 60 hours
in front of a computer to
create the score, a few hours
to practice conducting, a
few hours to rehearse with
the orchestra and probably
another 10 hours spent on
random stuff for when things
went wrong," Biancardi said.
The class itself is
rigorous in that it calls
for comprehension of
the complex ideas of
philosophers, such as what
their views of life were and
their schools of thought.
Students must delve deeper
to understand their opinions
on the subjects they discuss.
In order to incorporate what
they’ve learned in class into
their projects, the students
have to comprehend why
they believe what they do so
that they can fully answer the
question.
Avery Breyne-Cartwright, senior, discusses her piece, "Reves de Cine." Along with her art pieces,
she, Alish Duff and Emily Axelrod, sophomores, and Peter Bonoff, junior, performed found poetry
she created for four voices.
1
Stephanie Kruger, senior, answers questions from Karen Bonoff, a parent, about her art pieces
which were created using only natural materials. While people viewed her pieces, she inquired
about their interpretations of a piece that was made out of plants and flowers.
2
Hannah Stout, senior, shares a laugh while sharing her photo project about secrets. She took two
photos of each person she photographed and one photo revealed something that she already knew
about the person and the other revealed something unknown.
3
Michael Biancardi, senior, directs the Symphonic Orchestra in
ISperanza." His idea of an original composition came from a tune he sang into his cell
the middle of the night.
Lucy Walker, senior, performs "Welcome to my World," a skit she wrote about
who have been a part of her life. The characters represented problems she
different times in her life.
5
"I've thought for a
long time that there are
students ready to tackle the
big questions of life. The
highest level of thinking is to
synthesize;" Murray said, "to
be able to incorporate such
deep ideas into one's own
ideas and understand these
ideas."
In preparation for Honors
Humanities night, students
spent three weeks deciding on
the focus question. According
to Murray, the questions that
are chosen often involve a
great deal of thought and
creativity in order for the
student to be able to develop
a thorough response to the
question.
"At first I really disliked the
question and thought it was
dumb, but the more we talked
about it, the more it grew on
me," Colleen Douglas, senior,
said. "It was also good that
it allowed everyone to have
their own interpretation that
was unique."
The class is designed
differently from the
traditional system of learning
a topic and then taking a
test on the topic. Students
spend practically the whole
year on a single culminating
project. They are required to
come up with a medium to
portray their answer to or
interpretation of the question.
For many, this takes much
thinking and debate.
"It was really difficult and
took a lot of time for me to
decide on the concept for
my project," Douglas said. "I
went with the one that would
challenge me the most, but
also allow me to answer the
question fully."
When Murray created the
class seven years ago, she had
no idea as to whether the class
would be a success or not.
"I hope that the students
take many different lessons
from their experience in this
class. Of course I want them
to feel a deep sense of pride
in the work they've done. I
want them to be able to walk
out firm-footed on what they
believe because, hopefully,
after taking this class, they
understand why they believe
what they do," Murray said.
The Honors Humanities
class is an outlet for students
to express their deep level
of thinking and examine
their own beliefs and morals.
The class was designed to
challenge students and make
them question why they
believe what they do and
according to Murray, it has
achieved this goal.