Students learned about both writing and peace when award-winning poet Sonia Sanchez appeared at George School on October 25, 2010. During her visit, Sonia Sanchez spoke at an all-school assembly and at an International Baccalaureate (IB) English and creative writing class.

At the assembly, held in Walton Center Auditorium, the poet read from her first new book in over a decade, Morning Haiku, which celebrates revered African American figures in the realms of music, literature, art, and activism. She also read from Does Your House Have Lions?, an epic poem that depicts the life of her late brother, a vibrant young man who became a victim of AIDS.

“This assembly was truly amazing,” said Damon McCasker ’13. “The most important message that Sonia Sanchez conveyed was our need to live in peace, and how poetry and storytelling can be used as a tool to emphasize that need.”

During the assembly, Sonia Sanchez encouraged students to promote peace and justice by working together and conducting themselves in an upright manner. At the end of the assembly, a few dozen students and teachers waited in line for the poet to autograph their copies of Morning Haiku.

Following the assembly, Sonia Sanchez met with two sessions of an English class entitled “World Literature—Writer’s Focus,” a version of George School’s higher-level IB world literature course. Taught by former Bucks County Poet Laureate Terry Culleton, “World Literature—Writer’s Focus” offers students the opportunity to study a variety of world authors while developing their own creative writing and submitting it to the class for workshop-style critique sessions.

“She told us about some of her experiences traveling to Paris and South America performing at events with other poets, the projects she worked on with renowned rappers Rakim, Mos Def, and Talib Kweli, and some of the things she learned while teaching various workshops and classes at university,” said Julie Heredia ’12, a student in the class who writes spoken word poetry. “During my time with Sonia Sanchez, I learned the importance of writing in a way that is true to yourself,” Julie said.