Addison Trail and Willowbrook students participate in Hamilton Education Program

On Oct. 18, nearly 150 District 88 students (along with about 15 District 88 staff members) attended a performance of the musical “Hamilton” at CIBC Theatre through the Hamilton Education Program. Left: (From left) Addison Trail juniors Kristopher Kusnierz, Connor White and Rosemarie Mercado get ready to enter the theatre. Right: White, Mercado and Kusnierz are interviewed about their experience by Vince Gerasole with CBS 2 Chicago. To watch the interview, go to https://tinyurl.com/yaz76jns.

Top left: District 88 students and staff attend a performance of the musical “Hamilton” on Oct. 18 at CIBC Theatre through the Hamilton Education Program. Top right: (From left) Addison Trail English teacher and Theatre Director Anna Jakubka, Addison Trail juniors Connor White, Kristopher Kusnierz and Rosemarie Mercado, Willowbrook sophomore Emily O’Brochta and Willowbrook English teacher and Theatre Director Regina Wathier pose by the stage. During the event, those students performed original pieces they created based on the Founding Era curriculum. Bottom left: Willowbrook students enjoy the show. They are (back row, from left) sophomores Kayla Beitzel, Mikayla Tomaszewski, Kelsey Fitzgerald, Jordan Rust, Vincenzo Ledonne, Kylie Chmielewski, (front row, from left) Gabriel Yu, Letisha Sepulveda and Caden Mielke. Bottom right: (From left) Willowbrook sophomores Chloe Harr, Emy Hayes, Maggie Brewer and Sara Fitzgibbon pose outside the theatre.

On Oct. 18, nearly 150 District 88 students (along with about 15 District 88 staff members) attended a performance of the musical “Hamilton” at CIBC Theatre through the Hamilton Education Program.

That program is a partnership between “Hamilton,” local donors (including The Rockefeller Foundation) and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. It combines Founding Era classroom resources developed by the institute, document-based student projects and a special student matinee of “Hamilton” for sophomore and junior students enrolled in American history classes.

The day included performances of selected student-created pieces that were based on the Founding Era curriculum. District 88 students who performed on stage are:

• Addison Trail juniors Connor White, Rosemarie Mercado and Kristopher Kusnierz, who read an original poem about the Boston Massacre (watch their performance at https://tinyurl.com/HamiltonEvent)
  
  
• Willowbrook sophomore Emily O’Brochta, who read her original poem entitled “Freedom Rings” (watch her winning video entry at www.dupage88.net/WBHamilton2017)

Participants also were able to ask questions of the “Hamilton” cast and had lunch at the Palmer House.

According to http://stageagent.com, “Lin-Manuel Miranda's Pulitzer prize-winning transformation of Ron Chernow's biography, Hamilton, into a hip-hop musical is taking the world by storm. At the center of this groundbreaking multi-award-winning new musical is the story of founding father Alexander Hamilton, whose ambition drove him from the position of Caribbean outsider … to American war hero and George Washington's right-hand man. In the process, Hamilton powerfully shaped America as we have come to know it – and gave us all a template for what it means to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and realize the American Dream. With heart, humor and respect, Lin-Manuel Miranda's new musical breathes vibrant, colorful life into this story of America's founding fathers.”