FORKS — It isn’t often that summer school snags the attention of online news Web sites throughout the nation.
This year, the “Summer School in Forks” has popped up on People.com, MTV.com and The New York Daily News, among dozens of others.
The summer school — also known as the Twilight Symposium — isn’t packed with just any classes. All of the sessions were Twilight-themed.
The symposium drew about 150 people from throughout the nation, organizer Ann-Laurel Nickel, who lives in Souther California, said, and ran June 25-28. Cost was $250, or $300 for two Washington state residents.
“Overall, it was very successful and ran quite smoothly,” Nickel said.
“We received many compliments and congratulations from attendees and special guests.”
Kenmore Air Express said that more than 50 people had made reservations on the airline weeks before the event.
Although typically the airline does not provide a shuttle, because of the large number of attendees, one was provided for the symposium.
Larry Carroll, an MTV writer who has been reporting on the “Twilight” movies for several months, was the keynote speaker for the faux “graduation.”
After speaking at the event, he wrote of it, which led to the various other articles throughout the nation.
In addition to the typical “Twilight” fan sites, he mentioned how nearly every business included fan-friendly signs.
Appropriate setting
Carroll noted: “Driving into the small town (population 3,000), the first things you see are the enormous trees, the gorgeous beaches — and the pouring rain and overcast skies that make it such a perfect place for sexy vampires to call home.
“Then, when you pull into town, you see a quaint Disneyland for Twilighters: A motel sign screams ‘Edward Cullen Slept Here,’ [sic] a local Chinese restaurant features a ‘Twilight Dinner’ and every third storefront sells Robert Pattinson cardboard cutouts, custom-made T-shirts and other ‘Twilight’ trappings.”
In his keynote address, Carroll said: “As you head out in the world, perhaps you’ll find yourself being as compassionate as Carlisle, as chivalrous as Edward and as wide-eyed and curious as Bella.
“Relish your power to imagine, and [author] Stephenie [Meyer’s] world will be with you always — and really what school teaches a lesson more valuable than that?”
One of the most popular sessions was the “Twilight” parody by YouTube.com sensations the Hillywood Players, Nickel said.
“I actually rescheduled the Saturday program, so that all attendees could be in the session given by The Hillywood Players,” Nickel said.
The symposium also included an auction that garnered about $3,000, which will be donated to the Forks High School Associated Student Body, Nickel said.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige. dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
