FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Contact: Dave Wellman, Director of Communications, (304) 696-7153
 

Winners of Maier Latin, writing awards announced at Marshall

Photos available

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Winners of the Maier Awards, sponsored annually by the Maier Foundation, Inc., were announced Monday, April 28 in the Memorial Student Center’s Alumni Lounge on Marshall University’s Huntington campus.

Outstanding high school students and Marshall students in both Latin and writing competitions were recognized during an awards ceremony.

The Maier Latin awards were established by William J. Maier, Jr., father of Maier Foundation President Ed Maier, to repay in some way the special attention his high school Latin teacher at Huntington High School showed him.

A high school graduate at the age of 16, the elder Maier received an award then given by West Virginia University which named him the top Latin student in the state. The elder Maier credited the extra devotion to Latin and Latin students by his teacher as having helped him secure a scholarship to Harvard College.

The William J. Maier Writing Awards were established in 1973 by William J. Maier, Jr., in honor of his father. These awards, for excellence in writing, are presented annually to students enrolled in English classes at Marshall. Ranging from $100 to $500, the awards recognize and reward good and distinctive writing.

Also, Marshall’s Department of Classics sponsors the Maier Latin Scholarship which is underwritten by the Maier Foundation. This $2,000 scholarship is intended to support the work of a student presently pursuing a Latin major at Marshall and who is enrolled in advanced Latin classes.

Here are the winners of this year’s Latin and writing awards.

Maier Latin Sight-Translation Contest Winners

Latin I

First place: Stephanie Rice, Covenant School. Teacher – Lois Merritt

Second place: Samara Pollock, Linsly School. Teacher – Nicoletta Villa-Sella

Latin II

            First place: Jayan Nair, Home-Schooled. Teacher – Lois Merritt

            Second place: Joseph Tyler Williams, George Washington High School. Teacher – Ruth Diller

Latin III

            First place: Natalie Tupta, Charleston Catholic High School. Teacher – Robin Snyder

Latin IV

            First place: Ceilidh McIntire, Robert C. Byrd High School. Teacher – Judy Dolan

Maier High School Latin Cup Award Winners

            First place: Jared M. Jones, George Washington High School. Teacher – Ruth Diller

            Second place: Stephanie Werning, Charleston Catholic High School. Teacher – Robin Snyder

            Third place: Kayla D. Chappelle, Huntington High School. Teacher – Amy McElroy

Maier Latin Scholarship Recipient

            Mark Kalen Lee Ballard, New Martinsville, W.Va., junior, Marshall University

Maier Writing Award Winners 2007-2008

First-year Research

            First place: Walter Goff, “Strengthening Economies: A Proposal Regarding the US-Mexico Border Issue (Professor Jennifer Cavender)

            Second place: Amanda Saguansin, “Homeschooling: Attacking the Myth About Socialization” (Professor Jennifer Cavender)

            Third place: Maggie Stonestreet, “The Government’s Role in American’s Obesity Epidemic” (Professor Jennifer Cavender)

First-year Non-Research

            First place: Syreeta Njoka, “The Undetected Truth of the Tale of Alamo” (Professor Angell Stone)

Undergraduate Fiction

            First place: Travis Forshee, “The Last Days of Melanie Speranza” (Professor Anthony Viola

            Second place: Erika Tharp, “A Pair of Pale Blue House Slippers” (Professor A.E. Stringer)

            Third place: Rebecca Childers, “Following Rudolph’s Nose” (Professor Anthony Viola)

            Honorable mention: Amanda Koncelik, “Oreo Cookies” (Professor Chris Green)

Upper Division Non-Fiction Prose

            First place: (tie) Miriam Reasons, “Chaucer’s ‘Clerk’s Tale’ and Petrarch’s ‘Story of Griselda’ ” (Professor Kateryna Schray); and, Rebecca Fox-Gieg, “New Historicism and the Demonization of the Jews in Chaucer’s ‘The Prioress’s Tale’ ” (Professor Kateryna Schray)

Graduate Non-Fiction Prose

            First place: Ryan Sarver, “The Mind of a Killer: A Psychological Exploration of Rorschach, Watchmen’s Noir Detective” (Professor Mary Moore)

            Second place: Allison Massey, “The Façade of Power: Exclusionary Factors of Discourse in Ann Pancake’s ‘Strange as this Weather Has Been’ ” (Professor Chris Green)

            Third place: Cooper Childers, “Bridge of Ivory, Bridge of Horn” (Professor Mary Moore)

            Honorable mention: Kelly Broce, “A Familiar Schizophrenia: Personalities That Shape” (Professor Anthony Viola)

Undergraduate Poetry

            First place: (tie) Chelsea Elmore, “Office Space” (Professor A.E. Stringer); and, Grant Vandervort, “Trying to Stand” (Professor A.E. Stringer)

            Second place: Kaydee Diemler, “Let Your Tongue Dance” (Professor A.E. Stringer)

            Third place: Amanda Stephens, “L is not for Love” (Professor Anthony Viola)

Graduate Poetry

            First place: Sara Blevins, “A Woman Walking in the Desert” (Professor A.E. Stringer)

            Second place: Nicole Lawrence, “Spin Cycle” (Professor A.E. Stringer)

            Third place: Sarah Grubb, “Lost and Found” (Professor A.E. Stringer)

            Honorable mention: Joshua Mattern, “Because the Moon will Go Down” (Professor A.E. Stringer)

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