On Saturday, April 20, 2013, a group of Buffalo Seminary students participated in A Student Conference on Mr. William Shakespeare's Works, Theater, & Life, hosted by the English Club at fellow Buffalo, N.Y., independent school, Nichols School.
The keynote speaker for the one-day academic event was Barbara Bono, Ph.D., of the State University of New York at Buffalo. Dr. Bono read her paper, Hamlet’s ‘To be or not to be’: Three Film Versions—and a Coda.
Kathryn Sands ’13 presented her paper, Curses and Shrews: The Strength of Shakespeare’s Women. Classmate Jane Bertelsen ’13 presented her paper, Nature vs. Nurture: Shakespeare Takes a Side. Defining Aaron in Terms of Psychopathy, written by Maribel Leddy ’14, was presented by Katie Thomas ’14. Maribel could not attend the conference due to a prior commitment.
Also unable to attend was Eliza Hopkins ’13, who wrote This Message Will Self-Destruct: Self-Mutilating Families in Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus. Eliza’s paper was presented and defended by classmate Kathryn Sands.
Kathryn Sands '13, Katie Thomas '14 and Jane Bertelsen '13 (Photo courtesy of Dr. Ben Joplin)
Students from Nichols School and Park School also presented at the conference: Joel Almand, Lizzy Capuccino, Emily Collins, Katie Collins, Kaitlyn Dolan, Stephanie Feliciano, Lydia Gavner, Matt Hogan, Oliver Killeen, Lorena Lyon, Matt Morris, Erin Nebbia, Sam Stark, Anna Tantillo, Hillary Vossler and Jake Zarzecki.
The students from Sem were accompanied by faculty advisors Susan Drozd, Fine Arts Department; Benjamin Joplin, Ph.D., English Department; and Benjamin Priest, Ph.D., History Department.
Katie Thomas ’14 remarked, “It was really amazing to watch and listen to Professor Bono's lecture on Hamlet's famous ‘To be or not to be’ soliloquy. It was interesting to see the different ways that the soliloquy could be performed and still make sense!”
For nearly four decades, Dr. Barbara Bono has taught all aspects of Shakespeare’s work—plays, poetry, contemporaries, pedagogy, film—to K through 12 students, undergraduates, graduate students and the general public. Recipient of numerous teaching awards and fellowships, Dr. Bono is the author of Literary Transvaluation: From Virgilean Epic to Shakespearean Tragicomedy. She is UB’s representative to the Folger Institute, and in 1996 served as a faculty member and trained in the famous Folger NEH-sponsored Teaching Shakespeare Institute.
Reflecting on the experience, Kathryn Sands '13 said, “The most meaningful part for me was the conference setting itself. It gave me a glimpse into what college may be like, and gave me practice in presenting to a group of strangers, instead of friends.”
We congratulate all the high-school students who participated in Saturday’s conference, and thank our friends at Nichols for graciously hosting the event!
Buffalo Seminary, or Sem, is located at 205 Bidwell Parkway in the historic Elmwood Village neighborhood of Buffalo, N.Y. Founded in 1851, Sem is Western New York’s only independent high school for girls, and the only all-girls school in the area with a residential program. We offer an independent, nonsectarian, college-preparatory curriculum and are a member of The New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS), The National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), The National Coalition of Girls’ Schools (NCGS) and The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS). Sem is also a charter affiliate member of The Online School for Girls (OSG). To learn more, visit www.BuffaloSeminary.org.