Nicholas Torchia and Katelyn Robeck, two outstanding Clovis Community College English 1a/205 students, were nominated by their instructor, Melanie Sanwo, as Town Hall Scholars. This gave them the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to speak personally in a small group setting with science writer, Rebecca Skloot, on February 12, 2020, prior to her speaking at the San Joaquin Town Hall Lecture Series. Nicholas and Katelyn asked Ms. Skloot about her research process, the Henrietta Lacks Foundation, and how interacting with the Lacks family while researching and writing the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, impacted her personally.
All who read the book gain an appreciation for the many ways each of us personally benefit from the medical and scientific discoveries that have resulted from the HeLa cells, which were cancer cells biopsied from Henrietta Lacks, an impoverished African-American mother of five in Baltimore, MD in 1951. Sadly, the cancer took her life. Those cancer cells are the only ones to ever live outside the human body. Unexplainably, they double every 24 hours, allowing researchers to have an unlimited supply of cells to research. HeLa cells led to the development of the polio vaccine, gene mapping, and cancer medications, to name a few. Henrietta’s family did not know that her cells were benefitting science and medicine until 25 years later. Skloot’s book traces the fallout on the Lacks family and the boom for the medical industry.
Melanie Sanwo has been teaching the book to her English 1a/205 classes since 2017 because the non-fiction book has something in it for everyone. Students write essays based on topics they find in the book. Some of the topics include the following: patient consent and why patients should read every consent form; all children should receive the HPV vaccine; stop the stigma associated with depression; and motherlessness has serious social impacts. This semester, students are writing an analysis of how Skloot uses ethos, logos, and pathos when reporting about doctors, scientists, and journalists.
