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ruperts_babe · #1 (**permalink**) 07-25-2004, 12:42 PM

[img]http://www.snitchseeker.com/images/news/hp_grandpre_80.jpg' align='middle'> Young Harry Potter fans enjoy workshop -

Summary:
Some young Harry Potter fans had fun in a summer learning workshop

Article:

Thanks to Wizardnews

Quote:

The 11-year-old, soon-to-be sixth-grader, participated in a one-day Harry Potter workshop at Ohio University Zanesville Friday along with 19 other students ranging from fourth to seventh grades. The group is broken into four "Houses" based on the houses in the Harry Potter series, written by J.K. Rowling.

Potter is a wizard-in-training who has come to life on the big screen over the past few years. Rowling's ongoing series remains popular among many children and adults.

"I like reading the books because you get to learn more about the scenes and the characters that way," Pettet said.

The workshop serves as a way for educators to get children involved in educational programs during the summer months. This is the fourth summer literary workshop for children the campus has offered -- the third using the Harry Potter theme. Last year the theme was the Columbus Zoo.

Amy Underwood, aka: Stella Stargazer, has participated in past Harry Potter summer workshops.

"They've been very popular," she said. "This is a literary and creativity workshop for children. This year, they learned the parts of a newspaper, parts of a story and how to write ads. Their creativity comes in during the interview process."

The fledgling wizards participating in the workshop were able to interview subjects at the college or subjects pretending to be part of the Harry Potter world. Each house created its own newspaper -- complete with news and sports articles, photographs and advertisements.

"Each house had two teams of reporters and one photographer," Underwood said.

Megan Kalb was one of the teachers at the workshop, which consisted of 20 children. Another workshop is planned for Friday, Aug. 6, at Herrold Hall on the OUZ campus. Students already have registered for the upcoming event, though Kalb said there are still slots open.

Brandon Davis, 10, wanted to be a part of the workshop because it added variety to his summer vacation.

"I get bored in the summer, and I thought this would be fun," Davis said. "I basically learned how to work on the computer."

Family members were invited to have lunch with the students. Josh Babich, 9, who lives between Cleveland and Akron, attended the workshop for the first time. His cousin, Janie Rusinko of Cambridge, had lunch with him.

"I was a reporter today," Babich said. "We asked (the subject) about 10 to 15 questions -- what his career was, how was he feeling."

Babich, who has read many of the Harry Potter books, hopes to be an author or "make something like gadgets or be in the Olympics for tae kwon do."

Rusinko, who teaches second grade, said she wanted her cousin to participate in the workshop because she always takes him to see the movies.

"We were actually on the waiting list, but they had a cancellation so we lucked out," Rusinko said.