Over 20 years ago, a couple of high school English teachers and few members of the community organized a writing contest to celebrate the talent and creativity of the students at Allegan High School. Since the first contest in 1998, students have shared their best writing and artwork in a number of categories, including short stories, formal essays, personal narratives, poetry, editorials, and cover art. Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the Allegan High School English Department and Friends of Tiger Tales published a hard copy anthology of each year's winning and honorable mention pieces. However, those anthologies--while wonderful--only reached a small, local audience. As we had to retool the competition due to lockdowns, virtual and hybrid learning, and quarantines, the English department staff decided that it was time to share our students' work with a bigger audience by going digital. The hope is that now our students' creativity can be enjoyed by people all around the world.
Please be patient with us as we work on digitizing the last 20+ Tiger Tales anthologies so that we can share them with you on this website. It is a slow process and, as teachers, our priority is and has to be working with our current students.
"Writing and reading is to me synonymous with existing," commented Gertrude Stein. Clearly, Stein placed a premium on engaged minds. Never is a person more alive than when battling, as Hemingway put it, to get "the words right." Writing is such a noble endeavor--it is a battle for truth, honesty, beauty, pain--a brave reach inward, yes, but also outward, for a connection to humanity. Mental acuity is essential for effective writing, but so is hard work; writers hone their skills by writing . . . and reading.
Allegan High School is brimming with engaged minds. Working with students who are eager to strive for precision--students who embrace opportunities to distill ideas and sharpen their delivery--is invigorating. My students' writing propels me as it will propel them.
To read is to empower,
To empower is to write,
To write is to influence,
To influence is to change,
To change is to live.
- Jane Evershed -
Write on, Tigers!
Nancy Hascall
Allegan High School English Teacher
Should you have any questions about Tiger Tales, please contact a member of the English Department staff at Allegan High School.