2011 Freshman Essay Contest Awards
Every year, the Freshman Essay Contest honors first year students who present complex ideas in lucid and persuasive writing. This year the competition was fiercer than ever, with these three essays singled out from among thousands of essays submitted in classes by CGS Freshmen in the 2010-2011 academic year.
1st place
Connor Maher
Connor Maher’s essay, “Late 19th Century Japan; Eastern Teutons,” impressed the judges with its forceful argument that Japan managed to modernize in such a way as to maintain a uniquely “Japanese” identity.
Written for Alan Taylor’s Rhetoric 102 course
________________
2nd place
Lexie Persinger
Lexie Persinger’s “Addressing the Impossible: A Letter from Karl Marx to John Maynard Keynes,” applies a Marxist vocabulary to understanding the predicament faced by Western nations during the Great Depression—a predicament not unlike the one the US and Europe face right now.
Written for Ben Varat’s Social Science 102 course
________________
3rd place
Lucas Caron
Lucas Caron’s “Scaring Up a Panic: Sputnik and The Military Industrial Complex” offers a persuasive case that the Sputnik crisis was an early instance of the tail wagging the dog in American politics.
Written for Charles Henebry’s Rhetoric 102 course