Blog Post #5

Blog Post #5 — Sarah Peddicord

https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-unseen-student-victims-of-the-varsity-blues-college-admissions-scandal

Adam Langevin had his mind set on his dream school, California Polytechnic School, but getting caught up in the college admissions scandal put a stop to that dream. Photo by Kendrick Brinson

“On a Monday morning in April, 2017, students at Sage Hill School gathered in its artificial-turf quadrangle, known as the Town Square, to celebrate seniors who were heading to college as recruited athlete.

I think this lede explains who, where and when of the article, but it is talking about an event that happened two years ago. It explains the graduation of seniors as they head to college as recruited athletes. It doesn’t reference the present, but rather gives an idea to who this article would be about, which is the Sage Hill School senior recruited athletes.

It was difficult to find a nut graph of thesis sentence that put the whole article into a “nutshell” or summary sentence. While the article is about the “unseen students” in the college admission scandal, the article zones in on one particular student, Adam Langevin. It is a story telling article which jumps from actions to actions telling the story of Adam and the process to him being rejected from his dream position on the tennis team.

I don’t think this piece is literary. It is more of a piece of storytelling of actual events, there was little room for creative writing as it was telling actual events that happened with certain people in certain locations.

The writer is the teller of the story. He doesn’t put himself into the article at all, but rather is the one telling the details through interviews and careful descriptions of real events that have happened.

There were many interviews and people involved in this article, many stats of certain events, and many different occasions of emails or interactions or court cases being talked about from a primary source of someone being there.

“His style of play was aggressive. His game would have translated well to college tennis.” I think this kicker works in some cases, it’s a quote from the coach that talks about Adam and how he still had a lot of room to grow, hence, why he didn’t get the opportunity. It gives a sense to what Adam’s personality was like, he wouldn’t take no for an answer.