The Enlightenment Fest was held in Xavier center for the third consecutive year on Wednesday, Jan. 18.

English teachers Christine Moore and F. Douglas Brown collaborated with their sophomore students as they wrapped up their unit on the literary aspects of the American Revolution. This project is based on the Enlightenment period, a time when the influence of freedom and natural rights were emphasized in political documents and speeches.

The main purpose of this project was for the students to get a better understanding of challenges and controversies during the American Revolution. Both Moore and Brown have assigned this project for four consecutive years to provide and offer the school and community a fresh perspective on the issues of the American Revolution and what it means to us today.

Students responded to a prompt asking them to creatively address the concerns and issues related to the Revolution by presenting a project. Students had to accompany their presentation with a creation of their own to reflect what they have learned during this unit. They had to relate their own lives to the prompt and compare it to those during the American Revolution based on readings that they had done in class.

Brown said, “I encourage my students to bring out of themselves some of things that the revolution brought out: independence, self determination and hard work. We hope that each of them can bring to the table something pretty special.”

Matthew Petro, who presented on rhetorical choices and the effect they had on early colonists said, “We get an in-depth look into the cultural experience of the past.”