High School Students Interview Senior Writer and Author

On Wednesday, August 28, seniors in Mrs. Jennifer Schanz’s Contemporary Literature Class at Oak Forest High School had the opportunity to FaceTime with author Michael Bamberger. During the summer, students read Bamberger’s, Wonderland: A Year in the Life of an American High School. The nonfiction book is a real story about a senior year of high school at Pennsbury High School in Pennsylvania where the school is known for its prom. For one year, the students, parents, and teachers of Pennsbury invited Bamberger, a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, into their classrooms and lives.

Oak Forest High Schools seniors were lucky and fortunate to be able to speak with the renowned Bamberger who, as students would discover, has written many articles about famous athletes in his career as well as multiple books. Excited to meet the author, students cheered loudly as he appeared on the teleprompter screen through the FaceTime chat. Bamberger told the students, “This is the highlight of my day!” Then, one by one students took turns approaching the mobile phone at the front of the room where they would sit down and ask Bamberger their questions in front of their peers.

Students were encouraged to ask Bamberger anything they were curious about. Questions varied as many students were interested in relationships formed with families and characters mentioned in the book, Bamberger’s writing process, and of course, his overall career.

This isn’t the first time Schanz has been fortunate enough to have Bamberger speak with her students either. Schanz had first emailed Bamberger after reading his book Men in Green (a book where he interviewed famous golfers) after noticing his email address on the back book jacket.

Eventually, Schanz forgot the 2015 email existed until last year when she received a response. Soon after, Bamberger agreed to conduct a phone interview with her 2018-2019 class. Taking things one step further this year, the duo decided to introduce FaceTime to the class where Bamberger could interact and connect with students on a more personal level from his home in Philadelphia.

Bamberger offered stories to students as well as advice. He told students, “The best advice I can give you is to be open to people and experiences and try to live life by those experiences. The most important factor is to be in touch with the gratitude chain. Life becomes more meaningful if you remember to be grateful.”

With hope, the relationship between Bamberger and students at Oak Forest High School will continue in future years to come as students continue to explore contemporary literature and the writing process.