Mora Schools facilitates multiple College in the Schools (CIS) courses, one of which is College Literature through the University of Minnesota. These courses allow Mora High School students to stay “on our campus” while earning both high school credits and college credits. The courses are designed to be nearly identical to those taught on the U of M campus, providing the rigor of college-level courses in a high school setting. Though primarily a literature course, College Literature also strengthens writing and discussion skills through reading, analyzing, and discussing multicultural texts.
Every year, CIS College Literature students from around the state attend a “field day” on the U of M campus to hear a speaker and discuss the text with other students. This year, the field day speaker was Ammina Ahmad, U of M creative writing professor and playwright/author. Ahmad recently published a work of fiction entitled The Return of Faraz Ali, of which Mora students read the first four chapters prior to attending the field day. After Ahmad spoke about the craft of writing and her writing of this book in particular, she answered questions from students that were formulated both prior to and during her presentation. After the presentation, each school was given one complimentary signed copy of the novel and were encouraged to take a picture with the author.
CIS College Literature teacher Rachel Norby said, “It was a valuable experience for students to read a piece of literature and then meet the author in person. Ahmad eloquently expressed the joys and challenges of writing historical fiction, showing her perseverance to finish a project she was passionate about, even with the demands of her job and her family. As Ahmad herself stated, her writing self is not her ‘secret, other self,’ but her ‘truest self.’
CIS College Literature students attended a “field day” at the University of Minnesota campus on Thursday, March 28th, to hear author Aamina Ahmad speak about her newest work of historical fiction, The Return of Faraz Ali. Front row (left to right): Mason Nelson, Quincy Asmus, Tanner Berry, Nora Kerr, author Aamina Ahmad (sitting), Parker Ennis, teacher Rachel Norby. Back row (left to right): Gage Johnson, Brock Folkema, Nathan Nelson, Nora Houglum, and Tayah Anderson.
