Our session was written up in the paper! Take a look at the great article!
Climbing to the top: Charles Irion Skypes with Triway students
Author gives students advice on writing, enthusiasm, life
By LINDA HALLStaff Writer
Published:
In his give-and-take conversation with students, he gave tips on everything from going to college to getting a date for the prom.
Irion brought his tales of adventure -- climbing mountains from Everest to Kilamanjaro, writing murder mysteries associated with reaching their summits, and taking medical supplies and equipment to developing countries -- right to their door.
Roxanne Hammer, Triway High School's media specialist and district coordinator who met Irion on a Rhine River cruise, arranged a Skype interview with him for Jennifer Stutzman's senior and enriched English classes.
Irion graduated from the University of California in Santa Barbara with degrees in biology and economics. Without sufficient funds to go to medical school, he redirected his goal to earning a master's degree in business, then began selling pharmaceuticals, quickly switching to selling real estate.
But headaches from working with a contractor remodeling Irion's own home triggered a different direction for him. The notes he took on his difficulties led to his writing a book called "Remodeling Hell."
"The publisher knew I had climbed Mount Everest in 1987 and said no one had ever written a murder mystery (in that setting)."
Although he didn't know he would be writing a book about it, he had kept a journal of the "sights, sounds, feelings ... and struggle," he told the students.
Using those notes, he wrote "Murder on Everest" (A Summit Murder Mystery).
Following were seven murder mysteries linked to seven different mountain climbs, he said, because "I know what it takes to get to the top and the steps it takes. Write about things you are interested in and know about."
Irion reached a "crescendo" and "interesting twist" in his book on Kilamanjaro, he said, noting "people who don't get murdered get carried into other books."
During a question and answer period, Irion let students in on a little secret when he answered one student's question about whether his fictional characters are based on people in real life.
His wife, Rose, is a teacher, Irion said, admitting a principal she didn't like became a victim, hit by an avalanche, in one of his novels.
Hammer and students took advantage of Irion's candor with questions about training for mountain climbs, the creative process and the rigor of writing a book.
Whenever possible, Irion matched art with life.
One of the ways he got in shape for a mountain climb was "run(ning) up and down the Grand Canyon on weekends," he said.
"Like any journey, it starts with one step," he said. "It's not about how fast (you do it), it's about getting up there, (by putting) one foot in front of the other.
"It's a slow process to get up there," said Irion, who turned 60 years old the day he reached the summit of Kilamanjaro.
Writing uses the same process, he said. "First, you've got to get started." Then, "keep persevering; if you get stuck, take a break, just like in hiking."
Asked about his volunteerism and philanthropy, Irion said, he looks for causes "where money and energy go the longest distance."
His primary mission at this time is Project C.U.R.E., which bills itself as "the largest provider of donated medical supplies and equipment to developing countries around the world."
"They send me to developing countries to get needs assessments," said Irion, who traveled to five countries last year.
"We won the lottery because we were born in the United States," Irion said. "I tell kids in America, you're so lucky."
He also encouraged Triway students to go to college.
"Go to school as long as you can," he urged. "School is like a gymnasium for the brain," teaching a person to "think better ... adapt better. You can never lose that diploma."
As for getting a date for the prom, just as in life, he said, don't take no for an answer; find a different way to ask the question.
Irion's "visit" gave students the kind of experience they can't get solely through books, according to Hammer. "With no library budget, it's hard to get kids excited about reading. You want to find creative ways to get them interested."
Hammer wanted students "to get to know a real author," senior Spencer O'Neal said, after asking Irion what would be one word he would use to describe the view from Mount Everest.
"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," Irion told him.
"We've been doing a lot this year with fiction and non-fiction," Stutzman said, calling Irion "a perfect example" of each of them.
Interacting with Irion took her students from a lesson "flat on a page to dynamic."
Thanks again to the great students at Triway for having me! It was a blast!
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Article source: the-daily-record.com
