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Free Bilingual Online Literacy Apps for Riverside County Families
As part of the Literacy by 5th Grade Initiative, Riverside County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Edwin Gomez is providing free access to a suite of bilingual learning programs for all students in Riverside county.
From pre-reading activities and read-to-you stories, to alphabet recognition songs and grammar rules games, these interactive, new tools from Footsteps2Brilliance are now available to our youngest learners 24/7.
- Go to www.myf2b.com/riverside.
- Click the Register for Free Today button.
- Enter your home zip code and click the Check my Zip Code button.
- Select your school district from the options provided.
- Click the Register in English or Registrarse en español button.
- Follow the prompts to complete your child’s registration.
For more information, please see our recent press releases:
Can Riverside County Students Read Three Million Words This Spring? - 2/24/2022
RCOE Offers Free Access to Interactive, Early Literacy Program, Footsteps2Brilliance - 1/26/2022
Our Schools
Please contact your local school district to identify the school boundaries for your location. CLICK HERE for school district contact information.
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Meet Riverside County’s Youngest Award-Winning Scriptwriters: Ava Hemstreet and Xuan-Anh Biggs
Most high school students can’t imagine a scene where they are surrounded by professional actors, an experienced director, and other creative professionals, all working through a table read of a script they wrote on their own. If they aren’t prematurely awakened from that dream, the next scene might depict a theater full of friends and family gathered in the audience to see their original work being performed live on stage.
For teenagers Xuan-Anh Biggs and Ava Hemstreet, that dream wasn’t interrupted by an alarm clock before another day in high school—it was their reality as winners of the Palm Springs Young Playwrights Festival (PSYPF).
The PSYPF is a 501(3)(c) organization that promotes and encourages creative writing in the theatrical form open to all students in the elementary, middle, and high school level within Riverside County. Students from Riverside County are invited to submit their original works for the 5th Annual PSYPF (see details at bottom of article), but time is of the essence.
"I wanted to create a playwriting program for young people that encourages them to share their stories, thoughts, and dreams. It is a gift to us and our audience to hear what our youth are thinking and feeling. I'm so proud of Ava and Xuan-Anh for their accomplishments, and for sharing their voices, and I hope more students will submit their scripts this year."
-David Youse, Executive Director, Palm Springs Young Playwrights Festival
Ava Hemstreet’s submission took a full six months to evolve from conception to completion, and she worked on it whenever she could find time.
“It was kind of always on my mind. Even when I was on the bus, what else am I going to do but think of the character’s backstory? I was in class sometimes without something to do, so I did some writing of dialogue,” Ava said. “Then, later, as it got closer to the deadline, I scheduled the time each week to work on it.”
For Xuan-Anh Biggs, the development of her characters and script coincided with volunteering at a local homeless shelter and interacting with people experiencing homelessness.
“When we were there, they invited us to sit down and eat with them. I ended up talking with a lot of people, and I learned that they weren’t like what the media made us to believe. A lot of them are just regular people,” Xuan-Anh said.
Creative Vulnerability
The submission process was technically identical for both of the budding playwrights, yet each one faced different experiences with sharing their work with the world.
“I can very easily feel like I’m not good enough, and that I should never write a script again. That’s how I am,” Ava said. “I can go from 0 to 100 very fast—that’s how my anxiety works.”
For Xuan-Anh, submitting her script for review was less intimidating because of her previous participation on her school’s Mock Trial team.
“I had no fear. I love submitting things, and have submitted to film festivals before,” Xuan-Anh said. “I proofread it a bunch of times to make sure there were no typos.”
Both honorees agreed that high school students in Riverside County who are interested should overcome their hesitation and submit their creative work to PSYPF.
“A lot of times, we make up stories about ourselves in our own heads, which is great for plays, but, there’s a point where you need to stop making it up in your head,” Xuan-Anh said. “If you think it’s good, you should submit it. If you believe in what you’re doing, others will believe it too.”
“I’ve wanted to be a screenwriter since I was in 7th grade. I was always looking for opportunities to create narrative scripts as I watched movies and read books. But, there weren’t really opportunities in our county,” Ava said. “PSYPF was one of first opportunities to write a script, and to be able to talk to other people about it.”
Lessons Learned
Both students shared how their participation in PSYPF was a gratifying experience that built their creativity, confidence, and a hunger to explore challenging topics.
Ava’s play that deals with complicated topic of grief, was sometimes challenging to describe with actual words and dialogue. Her creative process required researching the topic with her own family in order to develop the characters.
“One of most gratifying things was when my mom read the final draft of the script and watched the live staging, and then said, ‘That’s exactly what it’s like. You took words that I couldn’t articulate and you put them in the script,’” Ava said. “That’s all I want to be able to do.”
For Xuan-Anh, being selected as a winner was a turning point in her emerging self-confidence.
“When you have adults in the field that you want to work in telling you that this work, your work, is good, it’s the most validating thing,” Xuan-Anh said.
Beyond the development of characters and the narrative arc of scripts, invaluable life lessons flowed from the experience.
“I thought that the only kind of leader was a ‘Type A’ leader who takes charge, and always raises your hand to answer—the take charge person,” Ava said. “I wasn’t that kind of a leader, but what I learned was that I can still be a leader while knowing my boundaries. I used to be really confused on how to be a leader, but this gave me confidence.”
Lessons Learned by Participating
- Sharpened Writing Skills
- Participating in a “Table Read”
- Receiving Critiques
- Working with Professional Director/Actors
- Leadership
- Identifying Creative Voice
Once named as a finalist at PSYPF, each student “workshops” the script with a mentor, participates in a table read with professional actors, and then sees their work performed on stage in front of a live audience.
“Working with a mentor was the most wonderful experience because I learned how to take a humble stance and learn how to change things in my writing,” Xuan-Anh said. “In a play’s script, there is an efficiency that was needed by reworking the characters to make them more interesting.”
For Ava, her first-ever table read experience was like a dream come true—even before she graduated from high school.
“I grew up wanting to be a comedy writer, like on Saturday Night Live,” Ava said. “I got to sit at the head of the table with the director and the actors all around you—with the script in binders and everything. I was beginning to understand how I wanted to work as a creative, and what my voice was in the room.”
For Xuan-Anh, the table read was a key moment in learning how to interact with adults.
“I showed up as a random sophomore and it was surreal. There was a binder with everything highlighted, a goodie bag, a highlighter, and Mentos,” Xua- Anh said. “I maintained a lot of professional relationships with the people who worked in my play.” After working with their mentor, both students’ plays were staged at the Palm Springs Cultural Center with professional actors and their family and friends in the audience.
“I know how to talk to people about my work, how to give and receive critiques, how a table read works, what it means to get notes, and even how to use email etiquette,” Ava said. “I got that confidence, so when I went to film school, it wasn’t such a big shock because I already had the foundation from PSYPF.”
Advice to Current Students
For any teenager, sharing the depths of their own in-progress creativity is sometimes at odds with the polished, perfection-like imagery projected by others on social media.
“I know sharing art and sharing yourself this way as a writer can be very personal. The first time, I was hesitant. I was someone who wanted to get my art out there, but didn’t know how,” Ava said. “I think that PSYPF gives you the space to learn what your voice is—in your writing, and your work, but also, when you grow up, and when you get into a professional setting. You want the creative control and once you get a taste of it, you want it again.”
Xuan-Anh’s encouragement to students to apply to participate in PSYPF is to overcome self-imposed hesitation.
“Don’t let yourself be the only critic of your own artwork. Sometimes, others will find worth in things that you don’t exactly think are amazing,” Xuan-Anh said. It is said all the time, but we really are our own worst critic.”
Invitation to Participate
Now in its fifth year, PSYPF is now actively seeking new submissions (through March 31, 2023) from students enrolled in any elementary, middle and high school in the Riverside County school system.
Submissions may be emailed to info@psypf.org or mailed to:
Palm Springs Young Playwrights Festival
1717 E. Vista Chino, A7 PMB 486
Palm Springs, CA 92262
When the submission window closes, a selection committee will review all submissions and choose the most outstanding plays. Each winner will receive a mentorship to enhance their play, a free public staged reading by professional actors, and a $500 scholarship to help further their career in the arts. Winning plays will be announced in early April, 2023. The 5th Annual Palm Springs Young Playwrights Festival will be held in June of 2023 at The Palm Springs Cultural Center.
Festival Flyer
| Ava Hemstreet | Xuan-Anh Biggs |
|---|---|
|
Age: 19 School: Chapman University (Palm Springs High School Class of 2021) Title of Award-Winning Script: Break Description: Based around the difficulty of handling grief and what it does to a family, this heartfelt drama explores stories that often go untold. The narrative follows one family’s response to grief, specifically the lengths to which they go to avoid talking about underlying tensions and its ruinous consequences. Current Project: Film school courses in production, screenwriting, and working on a full-length feature film at the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. Career Aspirations: Develop own ideas as a television showrunner |
Age: 18 School: Poly High School (Riverside USD) Title of Award-Winning Script: Homeless Rich Woman and the Playwright Description: The play features a narrator and two main female characters who play the role of a starving artist and an eccentric billionaire—both of whom have no friends and are lonely. Enlivened by the absurdity of a talking frying pan, both characters explore the meaning and depth of relationships through shared experiences. Current Project: College applications, playing the role of the witch in her school’s production of Into the Woods, and writing a script about a talking duck at an animal rights festival. Career Aspirations: Pursuing a career in the arts, preferably in writing or production design for films |