The annual WPCTE English Festival has become the signature activity for WPCTE for the last twenty-nine years. When I accepted the position of Executive Director in the late 80s, it was to allow for the continuity of the council’s work when new officers were elected every three years. Two initiatives that the council promoted are still in effect today: free membership and the annual English Festival.
The late Dr. Albert Labriola from Duquesne University served as WPCTE President beginning in 1990. He and I felt that the membership would be interested in an activity which would involve students in the promotion of reading. We visited Youngstown University’s English Festival, already in operation for several years. We came back and presented our observations and a proposal to our council, and the rest is history. Twenty-nine years of history.
The purpose of the Festival is enrichment. As adapted from our influence from the Youngstown Festival, participating students are required to read six novels selected by the committee. Schools register teams of 3-5 students who challenge teams from other schools on the Festival day in activities such as Trivia, Talk Show, and Insights. A modified schedule was also adopted for the grades 4-6 Festival day which started up the following year at a different date and location. A featured author of one of the book selections is invited to make a presentation and sign books. Some of the national and local authors who have participated have included Bette Green, Chris Crutcher, Todd Strosser, M. E. Kerr, Naomi Shiab Nye and Sharon Draper and locally Patricia Easton, Sharon Flake, and Philip Baird.
The location for the Festival for grades 7-12, due to the involvement of Dr. Labriola, was Duquesne University. It was the generous offer of the university facilities and its services from the outset that has made the inception, expansion and continuation of the Festival possible. The same holds true for the use of my school, Seton-La Salle High School, for the Festival for grades 4-6.
The timing of the Festival has a history of its own. Originally, the Festival day was scheduled in order to take advantage of Duquesne’s spring break when classes would not be in session. All went well for a few years until, for several years in a row, March snowstorms attacked. We were not able to reschedule because of our use of the campus, commitment of author engagements, and last minute school cancellations. That is when we wisely rescheduled to May.
The attendance at the Festival began with about 30 schools and 500 students. After that, and with the addition of the day for grades 4-6, we have typically hosted over 1200 students each year. The records also reveal several schools and teacher moderators have returned repeatedly over the years. Likewise, several members of the committee have been loyal supporters for many years.
With the unfortunate necessity to cancel the 2020 Festival, we are optimistic that the 2021 virtual Festival will continue to motivate and inspire our membership and the students we hope to make lifetime readers.
Author’s Bio: John Manear is a classroom teacher of 57 years, an NCTE member for 55 years, and a WPCTE member for 52 years. He has served two terms as WPCTE President, and since 1989, as Executive Director. He has served on the Executive Board of NCTE, and as a member of the Secondary Committee. He served as the local chair of both the 1993 and 2005 NCTE conventions here in Pittsburgh. Since the inception of the English Festival in 1993, he has served as Coordinator.
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