Class of 2018 continues One Book tradition, celebrates ‘The Little Prince’
Photo credit: Cat Oriel
Senior Omari Benjamin reads a passage from “The Little Prince” while dressed as a fox during the One Book kickoff celebration in the courtyard. Benjamin, who is in AP Spanish, read a portion of the book in Spanish.
In Dean of Students Jenn Babin’s weekly email sent out on Sunday, Apr. 8, the usual Tuesday X-block was replaced by an advisory to complete a “LPOB survey.” Although students were unsure what the survey was, they arrived in their respective advisories ready to tackle the activity.
On Tuesday, Apr. 10, ten minutes into the special advisory, seniors dressed like pilots, planets and princes went door to door into each advisory, saying: “Your presence is requested in the courtyard.”
English Department Chair and Teacher Brian Wogensen created a fake LPOB survey, which stood for “Little Prince One Book,” to distract the school while seniors prepared the courtyard for the surprise “The Little Prince” One Book kickoff celebration.
Questions on the survey included “What does one see most clearly with the heart?” and “Tell us about a dream you had in the last week.”
“The Little Prince,” written by French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, has served as inspiration multiple times this year — as it also inspired the theme of this year’s dance show, “Illumination.”
“[The planning comittee] thought it would be really interesting to use something that Archer has already done this year and and make people more aware of this book and add a new spin to it,” planning committee member Alex Feldman ’18 said.
During the kickoff celebration, seniors Omari Benjamin, Gemma Brand-Wolf, Uma Halsted and Maya Winkler lead a school-wide reading of the beginning of the book in English, Spanish and French. Meanwhile, seniors handed out cookies, copies of the books and little scrolls with quotes on them.
Events continued throughout the week with readings and discussions in paired advisories and a screening of the 2015 movie version of “The Little Prince” during lunch.
Feldman said she’s glad the committee selected this book because she thinks it reflects the Class of 2018 as a whole.
“The story talks about how everything is so unique and different, but when you bring it together it is so beautiful,” Feldman said. “I think that [encapsulates] us as a grade.”
Cat Oriel joined the Oracle staff as a contributing writer in 2015, was promoted to Voices Editor in 2017 and is now the News and Features Editor. She...
