Hart Middle School Literary Magazine Dedicates Spring Edition to Late Dean of Students

May 11, 2010

Students Artez Cunningham and Sanchez Threadgill pose for the cover photo of hArtworks.

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A big man with a big personality, William Brockenberry made a huge impact on students at Charles Hart Middle School where he served as Dean of Students since 2008.

When Brockenberry, 45, died unexpectedly in March, the loss was felt throughout the Southeast school. Students seeking to make sense of his death posted handwritten messages on his office door: “R.I.P.,” “The Heart of D.C.,” “We All Love You.”

Hoping to pay their respect in a more permanent memorial, student writers for hArtworks, the school’s literary magazine, lent their creative voices to the eulogy by dedicating their spring publication of hArtworks to the man they call Brock.

“It’s significant that they’re choosing a creative outlet to recognize him for his extraordinary work in the community,” said Billy Kearney, Hart Middle School principal. “He was a community fixture, a really talented individual and a great coach.”

Flanked by students Stelita Better and Lakeisha Thompson in a photo on page 3 of the 78-page poetry magazine, Brockenberry wears a proud smile. The headline to the dedication reads, “Always in Our Hearts at Hart,” and lists some of the achievements that made Brockenberry a beloved member of the community.

After serving as Head of Security at Patricia Roberts Harris Educational Center and as coach for the girls softball, basketball and volleyball teams at Ballou Senior High School for 10 years, Brockenberry began working as Hart’s Dean of Students in 2008. In his role, he worked closely with Kearney and others to help structure the school culture, instill discipline and “get things on the right path,” Kearney said.

In his youth, Brockenberry was a high-achieving athlete as All-Met quarterback at Dunbar High School. He also played semi-professional football for nearly a decade and had a tryout with the Indianapolis Colts in 1986. Athletics would play prominently in his professional career as coach at Ballou, where officials plan to dedicate a new gymnasium in his memory.

In her poem “To Be Missed” on page 4 of hArtworks, student Kierra Parks writes, “We can feel you watching over us,/and I say to myself:/Sometimes it’s so believable to imagine/you are still sitting in your office/in the same black chair,/when I walk past and raise my hand/to say Hi!/You are here with us,/no matter what.”

Kearney said the magazine, the nation’s only inner-city public middle school literary magazine, serves as an outlet for students to express themselves creatively, vent frustration and anger, or explore common adolescent themes, such as the death of a loved one, in their own words.

Published through a collaboration between the school and the D.C. Creative Writing Workshop, an independent nonprofit that aims to “create a literary renaissance in Southeast Washington,” hArtworks is written and edited by students in an afterschool writing club. Students are referred to the program by the school’s intervention team as a tool to engage students with discipline or behavior problems, Kearney said.

Other students elect to join the program to be with friends who participate, said Nancy Schwalb, executive director of the D.C. Creative Writing Workshop.

“Those targeted, we’re lucky if they to go to school beyond age 16,” Kearney said, noting that the program has helped students stay in and finish school. “Most, if not all, go on to graduate high school and some go on to college.”

Kearney tells the story of one student in the program whose behavior dramatically improved with his involvement in the program. The boy, who Kearney described as “virtually homeless,” had a hard life, slept in shelters at night and got into fights at school.

Administrators tried a variety of school intervention programs to engage the student but none seemed to work. It wasn’t until he took part in the afterschool writing club that his behavior and interest in school began to change.

“That’s the one that stuck,” Kearney said. “He flourished and loved going every afternoon. It was that ability to express himself.”
Kearney credited the program and hArtworks magazine for instigating “dramatic changes in kids’ desire to be in school and turn their lives around.”

“They like writing more and they are avid readers,” Kearney said. “It’s a good creative outlet for students having difficulty finding success during the day.”

Schwalb said students who struggle with grammar, punctuation and spelling find a positive experience in the afterschool program, which is more concerned with providing an outlet for personal expression.

“Poetry is something you can’t do wrong, as long as you express yourself,” she said. “If you can’t connect with school or language arts, you can connect with poetry.”

She said students in the program have formed a community of sorts among older and younger writers. “They become friends and stick with each other,” she said.

As a result, the program, which began 10 years ago, continues to grow. About 25 students regularly attend the program, while another 10 occasionally participate, she said.

Students publish hArtworks three times a year. Currently, there are 29 editions in publication.

“The kids in the community we’re working with have plenty to say,” Schwalb noted.

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