On October 12, 2007, Blanche Ely High School was honored with a visit from New York Times bestselling author Steve Alten. Steve Alten is a science fiction author who is best known for his Meg series, a set of novels that highlight the survival of large Megalodon sharks. Alten holds a bachelor’s degree from Pennsylvania State University, a master’s in sports medicine from the University of Delaware, and a doctorate in sports administration from Temple University. Alten came at the request of Blanche Ely’s student-led book club. The club chose to read Alten’s bestselling book, The Loch, and invited the author in for a literary discussion.

The students, who were led by Ashley Van Heel, president of the book club, had a plethora of questions for the author and were extremely excited about the visit. The students truly displayed their extensive knowledge of the book by asking detailed questions regarding the various themes within the text, as well as suggesting possible sequels. Regarding the level of questioning by the students Alten said, “You guys are grilling me harder than any of my editors ever did!”

Steven Woloszn, English team leader and writing coach, arranged for the author to come down from West Palm Beach to converse with the students. The students were so impressed with the author that the book club decided to read another one of his books, Meg, this upcoming semester.