Interesting characters at Night of the Notorious

Bringing a heart-breaking current event to life was Rachel Wieben as Leslie Jablonski, who saw her son paralyzed after being checked in a hockey game. Rachel’s brother, Jack Wieben, helped by playing the injured Jack Jablonski.

There was a gathering of interesting characters at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts on Monday, January 7, as Cook County High School seniors assumed the personas of a individuals involved in controversial topics. Students argued their characters’ position on a variety of questions on current hot button questions such as should teachers be allowed to strike, should the government censor the Internet, how does drug testing affect competition and more.

Many of the names of the characters at the Arts Center were not immediately recognizable, however, attendees quickly recalled the issue they represented as students made their case. If the names listed at right are not familiar to you, ask one of the College in the Schools students— they can fill you in. And you just might have an interesting discussion on a controversial topic.

The students and their characters:

Cailan Carpenter quite ably argued that there is a place for“differentiated instruction” in public education as Carol Ann Tomlinson.

Natalie Nalezny highlighted the gender gap in mathematics as talented mathematician Maria Chudnovsky.

Kara Ramey recruited her friend Abby Sutton to help recreate the controversy surrounding photo manipulation of models in her portrayal of Filippa Hamilton.

Clay Johnson found an interesting character close to home—his grandfather, C. Duane Johnson, a lifelong logger. Clay sought to answer the question: Is logging the best option for managing our national forests?

Maggie McMillan, as Ann Cooper, director of nutrition services for the Berkley Unified School District, tried to answer the question: Do we need to further reform school lunch programs?