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 A teacher of the teachers!The EIRC (Educational Information & Resource Center) in Sewell, New Jersey, has hired Ms.Kristen to give teaching workshops and seminars to new teachers as well as seasoned veterans and their principals. Dr. Jay Dugan attended a curriculum consortium and heard Ms. Kristen speak about her work with students, her books that are filled with positive messages for teens, her passion for reading and writing, and he knew immediately that the state of New Jersey was in need of her talents. |
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 The
Purple Store of Seattle Washington donates a percentage of the proceeds
from every "purple" book
sold to two literacy affiliates --- Literacy Source, also in Seattle,
and Literacy Volunteers of New Jersey. Ms. Kristen
matches The Purple Store's donations from the sale of...of course,
her best-selling young
adult book --- "The Purple Hat Gang". |
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 Judith
was welcomed to her 4th Teen Summit (Given
by Communities in Schools) at The Philadelphia
Convention Center on May 10th, 2006. Dr. Louis Castelli, President
of Ark Media and long time friend of Ms. Kristen showed an
amazing video of Judith and her students at Frankford High
School as they created their groundbreaking book, "What
We Want To Tell You." Judith spoke to the students
at the Convention about following their dreams and making their
mark in the world a positive one. As she said, "If
your ship doesn't come in... swim out to it!" |
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 Edie
Huggins, one
of our favorite Philadelphia TV people & journalists,
selected Judy as one of "Huggins
Heroes" after Edie received hundreds
of calls and emails about her work with children, her
love of libraries, and her books for young adults. This
award is given to people of the city of Philadelphia
who give back,
and who make a genuine difference in people's lives.
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 NBC sent a film crew to Frankford High School to tape Ms.
Kristen
in one of her
writing workshops.
It was one of the most successful
workshops of its type ever shown on television! Schools,
libraries,
Book Conventions and Librarian Conferences from as
far away as California called to ask her to visit and
speak and work her magic for their children! |
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Update, 2007: |
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In September of 2006, forty-one Lindenwold High School students formed, "The Teen Writers Guild of Lindenwold High School" Their book, "Hear Us Roar", filled with the students' poetry, stories, lyrics, and thoughts will be released early in 2007!"LHS" in South Jersey is an amazing school (www.lindenwold.k12.nj.us) where students and staff are a team, and, that team has created a school filled with character, pride and a strong sense of responsibility to give back to the community. Ms. Kristen is very proud to be a part of, "Hear Us Roar" . Excitement is in the air!!!
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On January 5th, 2007, The Teen Writers Guild of Frankford High took their talent to another level. They are in process of writing a newsette for the school. The new publication will be called "The Teen Writers Guild of Frankford High School Presents, "THE PIONEER NEWSETTE". The paper will be just four pages long but it will contain pertinent school information, book reviews, movie reviews, community updates, a "This Time in Frankford High History" column so that new students can see what was happening at their school 30, 40, 50 even 80 and 90 years earlier! There will be a sportsline column, a "Whatever" column -- containing thoughts from the Guild students, launched by Isbelia Paniagua, a "Reality Check" column, Entertainment section and a short story or poem by one of the Guild members, and a "Question for the Staff" where the Principal, or teacher, or office staff, security, will be asked a question by a Guild reporter and then the answer will be printed for all to see. -- "IF you could change one thing about this school... what would it be?" ... "What can we do to save our library from being eliminated?" ... "What can we all do to bring Frankford High School back to its former glory?" --- (and more to com e!) * * * * *
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 Judith
has formed The
Teen Writers Guild at her old
Alma Mater, Frankford
High School.
The Guild's book, "What
We Want to Tell You" was released in
February to rave reviews! It's a compilation
of each member's work. All of the proceeds
will benefit the Frankford High School library.
These students also accompanied Judith and
Magna Diaz, Frankford's school librarian, to
Hershey, Pa., in May, for the annual conference
of Pennsylvania School Librarians. This was
a wonderful opportunity to show how her highly
successful program is reaching and teaching
the students of Philadelphia and beyond. |
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| Judith
Kristen has been asked to write a book honoring
her former high school's 100th anniversary. The
book will be titled, "100
years of Pioneers -- Frankford High School's Centennial
Celebration" (frankfordhs.phila.k12.pa.us)This
is a three year project that will involve much
detailed work,
emailing, interviewing, and archive searching,
but one that Judy is so honored to be a part of. |
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 The
Guild Writers have just completed a Podcast! A PODCAST
of Judith Kristen, Mrs. Diaz, Frankford High's school librarian, and
all of The Teen Writers Guild members was recorded in late May of 2006.
It will be ready to go after a few more edits, and available in September,
2006! For those of you who are not familiar with this term, a
Podcast is the method of distributing multimedia files, such as audio programs
or
music videos, over the Internet for playback on mobile devices and personal
computers. (IPODS) Podcasting's essence is about creating content (audio
or video) for an audience that wants to listen or watch when they want,
where they want, and how they want. Welcome to the new millenium! By
the way... The podcast is entitled... "Once Upon a Time
in a Library!" |
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 Judith received
a call from "O" Magazine requesting information
about the students and their book! Pat Towers, one of the executive employees
at "O" Magazine called Ms. Kristen to ask for
more information about The Teen Writers Guild of Frankford High School.
A call was also placed to Judith's publisher to request copies of her books
for a deeper look inside the author and her hard-working charges. |
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 Dr.
Louis Castelli, President of Ark Media and long time friend
of Ms. Kristen put together an amazing video of Judith and her students
at Frankford High School as they created their groundbreaking book, "What
We Want To Tell You." Dr. Castelli also worked with the kids
at Frankford by showing them the proper way to set up, stylize, and design
their own book cover. It was a terrific class and the students adored him! |
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 Lloyd
Remick, Esq. President of Zane Management of Philadelphia
placed a call to Judith after he found out what an impact she was making
on the city. He promised to get his office spinning to see what magic he
can create for her. He sees all of her Young Adult books as "Film
ready!" Mr. Remick is a nationally
recognized entertainment
and sports attorney and manager of athletes, recording artists, writers,
producers, television, radio and entertainment personalities. He is a registered
contract advisor with The National Football League Players Association
and the NCAA, representing professional athletes with their careers in
football, basketball, ice skating, crew, boxing and track & field.
He has represented a number of award winning recording artists and producers;
and, for twenty years represented and managed Grammy Award winning musician
Grover Washington, Jr. |
Custom
Graphics & Site
Creation ... by Site & Sound Web Design
Original
Matching Soundtrack ... by SoundSmiths
Frankford
High School Principal, Richard Mantell traveled
to Beijing,
China on July 30th, 2006 to discuss student issues
and curriculum with Chinese School Principals and he brought along
several copies of "What
We Want To Tell You" as gifts. Frankford has gone international!!!
