Haley Hoskin will study in London, Paris, Berlin and Prague with “The Catalyst” Study Abroad Program
By Jim Beers
CHESTER – Haley Hoskin, a 2024 Chester High School graduate, has decided to study abroad this summer. Hoskin, a freshman student at Loyola University in New Orleans, is in her second semester and has a goal of becoming a lawyer and has the desire to be an attorney that helps people.
At Loyola, Haley is currently focusing on a Professional Writing concentration that will undoubtedly help her pursue her legal profession. She earned a place on the fall Dean’s List at Loyola with a GPA of 3.865 after one semester of study.
At Loyola she is working part time at the Jewish Community Center as a lifeguard and swim instructor. She is also a member of the Pre Law Club, and she is going through the process of joining the National Society of Leadership and Success. Haley is also a writer for the school newspaper.
While at Loyola, Ms. Hoskin was approached by professors and staff with the possibility of taking part in a “study abroad” program titled, “The Catalyst”. Students who are accepted into this program will study abroad May 18 through June 13. Her particular program will study in four European areas including London, Paris, Prague, and Berlin.
While in these areas, students will actually be studying to earn college credits in two, 3-hour classes for a total of six college credits.
In London and Paris the course will be titled, “Gods and Monsters”. Instructors will team-teach the class and will bridge the disciplines of Art, English and History to explore the deep-held beliefs on life, love, and faith.
The class will further explore both London and Paris to understand how the competing poetics and politics of “truth” have battled mightily with each other from the Anglo-Saxon past to the current era. Students’ visits will include sites of deep literary historic and spiritual meaning.
Travels will include Westminster Abbey, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, and the British Museum. In France, the sites of interest will include the Louvre, the Catacombs, and trauma sites from both WWI and WWII. Students will use literature, architecture, and visual art to explore how people can build, sustain, and modify what are currently sacred truths and how society can reach agreement on what is considered to be brutish, profane, low or wrong.
In Berlin and Prague the second course focuses on the rise of the Nazis, the terrible war they unleashed, the racial policies they enacted in Germany and throughout Europe, and the horrors of the Holocaust.
This portion of the course in considered to be “high impact”. The tour begins in Berlin. Students and instructors will cover 5-7 miles per day from ruined churches to towering memorials. There will be visits to the Gestapo Headquarters, the University of Berlin, the famous Tiergarten, the great art and history Museum Island, and other key landmarks.
In Prague, students will learn what it was like to live and die in the occupied City of Prague. One of the final trips will be to the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp and Ghetto Museum. Students will learn and experience the importance of keeping this era in the spotlight to help others keep the memory of those who died and suffered in these killing centers alive. This course is being taught by Dr. Doug Mackaman, Director of “The Catalyst”.
Miss Hoskin attended Chester Grade School and Chester High School for her elementary and secondary education.
At CGS Haley was a member of the CGS Beta Club which is similar to the National Honor Society at the high school level. She was inducted into Beta Club in 7th grade and remained active until graduating 8th grade.
She was a member in the Chester Grade School Band from 5th to 8th grades and joined the CGS Choir in 6th through 8th grade. She played on the Lady Jr. Jacket Volleyball Team in 8th grade. Hoskin graduated from Chester Grade School in the 2019-2020 school year.
After graduating from Chester Grade School, Hoskin entered secondary education at Chester High School. Throughout her four years at CHS Haley worked on the CHS Sting Newspaper. She was the Associate Editor in her junior and senior years.
She continued her high level of involvement in band all four years at CHS. Her junior and senior years Haley was in the Spanish Club and the Theatre Club. Yearbook was an activity junior year and she was a Scholar Bowl Team member her sophomore through senior years. Sports involvement included Volleyball her junior year and Track her senior year.
Her junior year Hoskin was inducted into the Summit Chapter of the National Honor Society at CHS. She was active in both junior and senior years. She won 1st Place in Newswriting her freshman year and won 3rd place at the SISPA for News Writing her sophomore year. Finally, she advanced to the State Journalism Contest.
In her spare time Haley was a member of the Sparta Swim Team from 3rd Grade till she graduated from High School in 2024. She was a Lifeguard and Swim Instructor at the Perry Park Center the past four years. She was involved in Girl Scouts from Kindergarten through senior years and earned her Girl Scout Silver Award. Her junior summer, Hoskin was a delegate to the Illini Girl State. She also won Congressional Awards, with Bronze through Gold Certificates.
Miss Hoskin graduated from Chester High School with an overall Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.8 and graduated 8th in her Class of 2024.
Haley is the daughter of Jim and Vicki Hoskin. She has a sister, Hannah, who is a sophomore at CHS and a brother, Logan, who is an 8th grader at CGS. All are very proud of Haley and are excited about her opportunity to study abroad this summer in the “Catalyst Program”.