POETRY ALOUD COORDINATORS FOUND!

Poetry Aloud! is proud to welcome two intrepid volunteers from the JSIS community who will co-Chair the beloved Poetry Aloud Program starting the 2010-11 school year:  Meggen Chadsey and Erika Bigelow. 

Next year, Meggen's son "will be in 4th, and my daughter will enter kindergarten (both Japanese). I volunteer all the time, from the sundry (sharpening pencils is a favorite, though I seem to be hard on electric sharpeners), to the vital (correcting math homework, coordinating Art Wizards after school program and lately Drama.) I didn't really learn that I liked poetry until I was an adult, so I think programs like Poetry Aloud! are terrific -- exposing kids before they are forced to take poetry in college to satisfy an English requirement."

Erika is also a very busy parent who, before majoring in English in college, "won honorable mention in a zoo poetry contest when I was 12 and have loved poetry ever since ... My daughter, Aoife, will be in 1st grade Japanese next year and I have two younger sons (3 1/2 and 6 months). I volunteer in the library on Monday afternoons and my husband and I have helped with the Move-A-Thon and Japanese Night. I'm looking forward to meeting and working with all of the teachers and watching the kids learn a little about poetry through this position. "

We're more than thrilled that these talented and involved parents have graciously offered their valuable time to keep the John Stanford International School poetry tradition alive and look forward to their enthusiastic contributions in the year(s) to come.

Thank you,

Vinita

Vinita Vigil

206.335.2002