The Fourth Wall page 5 Erica Panico You made it this far: you either graduated from High School or are preparing yourself for another semester at Mont Alto. No curfew, no parents and no set rules what a wonderful feeling for any teenager. You're ready to start a new life or continue with a life you started last year (not to mention your parents are ready to get you out of the house). But, each campus is different and Mont Alto “offers a different life for-each student. On our campus we have a combination of both country natives and city slickers. Both have a feeling of Mont Alto that reminds them of their life at home. At the end of the day we have the same overall feeling, which doesn’t make us all that different from each other. Kelly Burke is 18 years old and lives in Birdsboro. Birdsboro is around the same size as Mont Alto and gave Kelly a good sense of home, when she started her studies at college. “Mont Alto was one of the closest campuses to home I applied to. I felt with — the surroundings” stated Burke. Kelly instantly became attached to Mont Alto, a second home. Kelly said, “I was used to the trees, cows and cornfield. Mont Alto was just another small town in Pennsylvania.” She was worried about going from store to store, because she did not have a car and it was impossible to walk to any store. Still, Kelly was pleased with her decision and enjoyed her campus home. “I made good friends and learn about others who were totally different than I am” stated Kelly. Samantha Henry is 18 years old and lives in Yonkers, New York. Samantha started laughing during the interview, reliving her first experience of country life. “I was sleeping in the car and woke up and saw only cornfields...I thought, Renisha Singh Buddy Wakefield is the 2005 Individual World Poetry Slam Champion. He made his appearance in Mont Alto on January 11%. Along with his performance was a performance by Mont Alto Freshman Antonia Houston. The crowd thought the performance was amazing and didn’t want it to end. Slam Poetry is a performance based poetry reading that is judged on expression and portrayal. The poets usually read their own poems. The purpose of slam poetry is to give the audience insight to the subject of their poem using visual expression. The topics in slam poetry are usually controversial topics that sometimes have caused many emotions and changes in ideology. Buddy Wakefield has lived all over the world. Born in Louisiana and raised in Texas, Buddy now lives in Washington. Throughout his lifetime, he has had many different jobs ranging from street vendor to an executive assistant in a biomedical firm and was also a maid, bartender, and bull rider sometime along the way. In 2001, he became very interested in Slam Poetry and has been claiming championships ever since. Buddy’s performance during slam poetry night was unforgettable. The audience listened attentively and respected what Buddy had to say. His words were moving and left the audience astounded. “I found the poems very inspirational, insightful and spiritual. It was so good, I'd want to see him when he comes to New York,” stated Mont Alto Freshman Crystal Jean. Houston recited a poem by Taalam Acey called Come Back Forward. The poem was an in depth statement about the black community. It was trying to get the message out that women felt that the men needed to be stronger internally and externally. Antonia recited the three page long poem completely from memory. She won first place in the Poetry Contest in High School reciting this poem and felt that it was good poem to share with us here at Mont Alto. “Antonia was so good when she recited the poem especially since it was all from memory,” Julie DeMoss. Slam Poetry Night was truly a night of inspiration. The students of Mont Alto enjoyed the performance and thought Buddy Wakefield was great. They all would like for him to perform again. They also thought the performance by Houston was astonishing. Slam Poetry Night is something hopefully Mont Alto will see again. ‘are we going the right way?” stated Henry. She continued, “My mother was worried for me; all she saw was cornfields after cornfields.” Mont Alto is a completely different life than New York or any major city. “There are no sidewalks!” stated Samantha. Mont Alto can be a beautiful setting for any person, regardless of your race, gender or lifestyle. “I feel like I'm in a gated community, and in comparison to New York it is not as diverse, but the setting is so beautiful. I learned about people in general and created effective study habits.” We live in two different worlds. One world is bounced with mountains and fresh air, and the other world is surrounded with a large population and new faces each day. What Mont Alto brings is a sense of balance to both these worlds. We are able to learn about each other by the different lifestyles each of us leads. Mont Alto can give any student a steady study environment and surreal setting. College is a pursuit of yourself and developing the person you will become. We can learn about ourselves by learning from others. Yes, we are all different but we are all in the same quest in this time of our life, education. s!
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers