From Oklahoma best-selling author Faith Phillips and the Senior class of Stilwell High School comes the groundbreaking book, 2020 Visions. It is the first published account of the Class of 2020 in the time of Covid-19.
Ms. Phillips begins the account of this extraordinary ordeal by sharing personal journal entries about an unlikely decision to teach English IV for one year in Adair County, where the students and school struggle to negotiate a 45% child poverty rate.
The students journal their own doubts as they move through their final year with a dubious, untested new teacher. The class transformation from the beginning of the year to Spring Break 2020 is a remarkable and triumphant story, worthy of a book on its own. The list of accomplishments the students make together in a very short period of time is nothing short of exceptional and historic, from raising funds to get their own set of class Chromebooks, to publishing a podcast selected for national recognition by National Public Radio. Then Covid-19 arrived. With the arrival of unprecedented change and mournful loss the students continue to journal their experience with jaw-dropping honesty and powerful visions of the future.
2020 Visions is the first comprehensive chronicle to share the struggle, grief and tenacity of the Class of 2020. Full of refreshing honesty, spirituality, advice, and hope, it makes the perfect graduation gift for 2020 graduates and their parents. What’s more, the first $15,000 in book royalties (after recoup of up-front publishing costs including original cover art, editing, printing, etc.) will provide Chromebooks for SHS Junior, Sophomore and Freshman classes. By pursuing this continuation of the initial Senior #Chromedreams project, 2020 Visions will ensure that every student who passes through Stilwell High School has daily access to the same tools students in larger Oklahoma school districts already enjoy.
Reserve your copy now for this historic record of tragedy, joy, and triumph in the year that will forever be remembered as the year of “the chosen ones”: the Class of 2020. Order your hard copy of 2020 Visions at the link below for $25.00. Digital copies will not be made available until Fall 2020. Please note that reserving your copy now reserves your spot to receive a book from the first hardcopy shipment in July 2020.
Reserve your copy here for $25. https://www.paypal.me/FaithPhillips/25 (External link to PayPal)
An early review of 2020 Visions:
“Two stars up! If you like rolling in red dirt and howling at the moon, this book is for you! A must read for anyone under the age of 95! This is Grapes of Wrath meets Freedom Writers on The Road. Yeehaw!” -Mrs. McGraw (a note in the interest of integrity: Mrs. McGraw is the author’s English Department colleague and receives a favorable portrayal in the book.)