Tattoo photo by Kiernan Majerus-Collins
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Saturday, December 15, 2007
The difference a teacher can make
By Rachel Glogowski
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – Music and one teacher’s desire for student involvement in current issues merged Saturday during the Rock for Rights event in West Hartford.
That teacher was Steph Sperber, a 23-year-old social studies teacher at Hall High School in West Hartford. She organized the event, which involved seven bands, including three area high school bands, one local group, and a few touring bands.
Student groups set up booths at Rock for Rights focusing on issues such as hunger, peace, crime, and teen pregnancy.
“The purpose of the event is to encourage students to get involved in current issues and spark an interest in student involvement,” Sperber said.
Sperber said the inspiration to start an event encouraging student involvement came from her favorite teacher, Liz Divine, who pushed the formation of a student rights coalition at Hall when Sperber was a student there.
“Now that I’m faculty, I really want students to have the experience that I always wanted,” Sperber said.
Organizing Rock for Rights took months of work, setting up websites and getting the word out.
According to Sperber, the money raised will help pay various expenses, including the costs of food, shirts, and a few of the bands that were paid to come.
Any excess profit will be split between the two participating high schools, Hall and Kingswood Oxford, to sponsor student groups and pay for guest speakers to visit the schools.
As for the success of Rock for Rights, Sperber says she is “really happy,” considering the fact that this is the event’s first year and she “literally had to create it from scratch.”
She plans to organize another Rock for Rights again next year.
“Maybe it’ll be in the spring,” said Sperber. “That way, we won’t have to worry about snow.”
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – Music and one teacher’s desire for student involvement in current issues merged Saturday during the Rock for Rights event in West Hartford.
That teacher was Steph Sperber, a 23-year-old social studies teacher at Hall High School in West Hartford. She organized the event, which involved seven bands, including three area high school bands, one local group, and a few touring bands.
Student groups set up booths at Rock for Rights focusing on issues such as hunger, peace, crime, and teen pregnancy.
“The purpose of the event is to encourage students to get involved in current issues and spark an interest in student involvement,” Sperber said.
Sperber said the inspiration to start an event encouraging student involvement came from her favorite teacher, Liz Divine, who pushed the formation of a student rights coalition at Hall when Sperber was a student there.
“Now that I’m faculty, I really want students to have the experience that I always wanted,” Sperber said.
Organizing Rock for Rights took months of work, setting up websites and getting the word out.
According to Sperber, the money raised will help pay various expenses, including the costs of food, shirts, and a few of the bands that were paid to come.
Any excess profit will be split between the two participating high schools, Hall and Kingswood Oxford, to sponsor student groups and pay for guest speakers to visit the schools.
As for the success of Rock for Rights, Sperber says she is “really happy,” considering the fact that this is the event’s first year and she “literally had to create it from scratch.”
She plans to organize another Rock for Rights again next year.
“Maybe it’ll be in the spring,” said Sperber. “That way, we won’t have to worry about snow.”
Tattoo photo.
Tattoo writer Rachel Glogowski, at work on her story.
Not your average English teacher
Tattoo photo by Rachel Glogowski
By Rachel Glogowski
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – Jesse Stanford is an average English teacher. Except he is also the lead singer in a local band.
“I’m an English teacher by day and a rock star by night. Or by late afternoon,” Stanford said Saturday at Rock for Rights.
His band Oak Soldier has a “folk rock sound,” said Stanford. They write all their own songs, Stanford said.
“We’re better at performing our own stuff than other people’s,” he said.
But the band, which has been together for a little under two years, draws their inspiration from a number of different musical performers, including Bob Dylan. And they like to listen to both classical groups such as The Beatles and more modern performers such as Radiohead.
To the “select group of musicians and English enthusiasts” out there, Stanford lists “don’t do drugs” among his suggestions.
“Just always try to stay inspired, whether you draw your inspiration from a band or a tree. Find inspiration everywhere you go,” he said, adding again, “Oh, and don’t do drugs.”
Stanford teaches at the Hartford Academy of the Arts in Hartford, Connecticut. Although he loves working with kids, he says that music has always been a part of his life.
“It can be tricky balancing the two sometimes,” he said.
But the English-teaching, music-writing, lead singer of Oak Soldier probably wouldn’t have it any other way.
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