April
23,
2004
Alumnae
Association Essay Contest Asks, "What Changed Your
Life?"
Have
you had an "Aha!" learning experience--a moment
in which you see something in a new and clearer way--and
after which your life is never quite the same? If so, the Alumnae
Quarterly magazine wants to know about it.
For its second annual essay contest topic, the Alumnae Association invites members
of the MHC community to write about their most pivotal learning experiences.
Writers are encouraged to interpret "learning" broadly, to cover
pivotal experiences in and outside of a classroom. The writing contest is open
to MHC students, faculty, staff, and alumnae.
The winner will receive $500, and her or his essay will be published in the spring
2005 Alumnae Quarterly magazine. The second-place essayist will receive $250,
and essays earning honorable mention will be given noncash prizes. Essays by
runners-up will be published on the Alumnae Association's Web site.
Avice A. Meehan '77, chair of the committee that conceived the contest,
said it aims to showcase the power of ideas. "Mount Holyoke is--and
always has been--a community of independent, critical thinkers who connect
the work of the academy to the concerns of the world. The Quarterly is excited
to offer a forum for students, alumnae, faculty, and staff to voice their diverse
perspectives on a theme
that reflects intellectual vigor and leadership."
Essays should be 500 to 1,000 words long, must not have been published, and must
be received no later than October 15. Judges will evaluate entries for content
and writing style, considering the writer's status (as student, alumna,
faculty, or staff member). Writers' names will be removed before
judging.
To submit an essay, email it to eweir@mtholyoke.edu; send it by campus mail to
Emily Weir at the Alumnae Association, Mary Woolley Hall; or send it by U.S.
mail to Essay Contest, Alumnae Quarterly, 50 College Street; South Hadley, MA
01075-1486. Your name, class year, faculty/staff status, and email or phone number
must accompany the entry; entries will not be returned.
Photo by Paul Schnaittacher
Ashley Gagne '04
|
Senior Wins 2003 Quarterly Essay Contest
Ashley Gagne '04
won the top prize in 2003's Alumnae
Association essay contest. It was the first time she'd
ever entered a writing contest, and her entry was chosen from
the 77 entries received from MHC alumnae, students, faculty,
and staff on the topic "what concerns me most."
"Winning the first essay contest has given me great confidence in the power
of writing," Gagne said. "The reality that one stirring opinion can
reach thousands, through opportunities such as this, inspires me to continue
writing about what changes I want to see in the world."
Gagne's winning essay, which appears in the spring Alumnae
Quarterly magazine,
takes readers inside her head as she rides home on public transportation from
a summer internship working at an academic enrichment program for inner-city
Boston children. It paints a vivid picture of the complexities of trying to deal
respectfully with people of all backgrounds and to help the less fortunate without
making incorrect assumptions about others' life experiences or
capabilities.
Gagne, an English major, spent last summer as an intern with the Steppingstone
Foundation, a nonprofit that helps inner-city youths prepare for private and
top public secondary schools in the hope that they will eventually pursue higher
education.
After graduating in May, she will be teaching English at a high school on the
island of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia through the Jesuit Volunteer
Corps.
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