In the words of E. M. Forster, “What is wonderful about great literature is that it transforms the man who reads it towards the condition of the man who wrote.” For many, literature is experienced in the context of our own minds, but in some cases, literature based on real life, real places, and real events can come alive for us by seeing the actual places and perspectives on which the literature is based. For the Unreliable Narrators Chapter of the National English Honor Society at Collier High School in Wickatunk, NJ, students were able to do just that.
The 2014 graphic novel, Here, by Richard McGuire, now a 2024 motion picture directed by Robert Zemeckus and starring Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, is set in historic Perth Amboy, NJ. The story is about the events that occur on a single spot of land, specifically in the living room of a house, and the people who live there over a period of time from the distant past and into the future. This house overlooks the Proprietary House in Perth Amboy, the only governors’ mansion still remaining from the thirteen colonies, which has undergone many changes, ownership, and purposes throughout the years, and is currently a museum.
Our NEHS students were able to live the experience of the graphic novel Here, from a real-life perspective. After reading the novel, the students took a tour of the Proprietary House, once home to William Franklin, a New Jersey governor and Loyalist, and illegitimate son of Founding Father Benjamin Franklin. They learned about the history of the area, which is reflective of the events in the graphic novel and even got to take a picture in front of the house that the book is set in. Students then toured St. Peter’s cemetery and church, where many of the prominent historic families of the area are buried. There were tombstones dating back to the 1700s and students were even able to see the grave of Thomas Mundy Peterson (1826-1904), the first African American to vote in any election. Many of the students were able to compare the graveyard in the books they had been reading in class to the one that they were touring, noting the bare, unhallowed ground where supposed witches were buried.
Students really enjoyed the trip and the connections to literature they had read and had the opportunity for the literature to come alive for them. They enjoyed seeing the history behind what they had read. “I found the history rich and enduring, and the museum well preserved,” said junior NEHS member Muhammad Abdelilah.
Kristin DiStefano is a National English Honor Society Advisor at Collier High School, where she has been teaching for twenty-four years. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Special Education from The College of New Jersey and a Masters in Criminal Justice from Kaplan University. She is a mom of three busy daughters who enjoys spending time with her dog, reading, keeping fit, going to the theatre, listening to music, and reading true crime literature. She loves to inspire her students to appreciate all types of literature and to connect to the historical and contemporary contexts in which they are set.
National English Honor Society
The National English Honor Society (NEHS), founded and sponsored by Sigma Tau Delta, is the only international organization exclusively for secondary students and faculty who, in the field of English, merit special note for past and current accomplishments. Individual secondary schools are invited to petition for a local chapter, through which individuals may be inducted into Society membership. Immediate benefits of affiliation include academic recognition, scholarship and award eligibility, and opportunities for networking with others who share enthusiasm for, and accomplishment in, the language arts.
America’s first honor society was founded in 1776, but high school students didn’t have access to such organizations for another 150 years. Since then, high school honor societies have been developed in leadership, drama, journalism, French, Spanish, mathematics, the sciences, and in various other fields, but not in English. In 2005, National English Honor Society launched and has been growing steadily since, becoming one of the largest academic societies for secondary schools.
As Joyce Carol Oates writes, “This is the time for which we have been waiting.” Or perhaps it was Shakespeare: “Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer . . .” we celebrate English studies through NEHS.
National English Honor Society accepts submissions to our blog, NEHS Museletter, from all membership categories (students, Advisors, and alumni). If you are interested in submitting a blog, please read the Suggested Guidelines on our website. Email any questions and all submissions to: submit@nehsmuseletter.us.
