This week District 205 middle schoolers were visited by Newberry Award winning author Jack Gantos.
Gantos on Monday visited Churchill Junior High followed by an evening presentation for the public at the Orpheum Theatre.
His final stop was at Lombard Middle School yesterday where he gave presentations to each grade level and then had a chance to visit with a few students over lunch.
Eighth grader Katie McClean was especially receptive to some of Gantos advice on writing since it’s a passion of hers.
She tells WGIL she plans on studying journalism in college and Gantos’ visit sparked ideas on how to refine her craft.
“Basically just keeping notes on stuff that happens everyday to kind of figure out how things work and how to develop a story based on normal things that happen,” McClean says.
Kylie Nicholas, also an eighth grader, says she is more interested in graphic art.
“But it’s really exciting that he is here,” Nicholas says, “because it gives me more tips on how to pull my stories further on.”
Gantos was brought to Galesburg by Reading at the Crossroads, an initiative of the Galesburg Public Schools foundation.
