The Cambridge School students are set to participate in national contest honoring the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address.
Documentarian Ken Burns launched a national effort to encourage Americans to record themselves reading or reciting the speech. In addition to leading a recitation contest, Burns created a film about the Gettysburg Address.
The Address, a 90-minute feature length documentary is set to air 8 p.m. April 15 on PBS. The film focuses on the Greenwood School in Putney, Vt., where students with learning differences practice, memorize and recite the Gettysburg Address. In its exploration of the Greenwood School, the film also unlocks the history, context and importance of Lincoln’s most powerful speech.
The Cambridge School partnered with the Greenwood School to further the national conversation about learning differences through a contest for its middle school students. It is the only school in New Jersey to do so.
The contest is scheduled for 9:15 to 10 a.m. March 13. Students will be judged on their ability to perform the Gettysburg Address from memory. Judges will evaluate students by a standardized scoring rubric.
Judges include Pennsylvania State Representative Steve Santarsiero, retired Princeton University American history professor James McPherson, Pennington Public Library Children’s Program coordinator Cindy Persichilli and former Pennington council representatives Joe Lawver and Dina Dunn.
The winner, his or her family and a school representative will represent the Cambridge School at the national contest judged by Ken Burns in Putney, Vt., set for April 2.
More information is online at learntheaddress.org.
