Jenn visited us last weekend and shared about a few encouraging events on campus recently…

She was invited to an honors banquet where she received the Outstanding Senior award in German and also was one of five receiving an Outstanding Senior award in English.

Several days later, Stetson students gave oral presentations of their research projects all day long for the faculty and other students to listen and learn from their studies.  (This annual event is called Stetson Showcase).  Jen’s paper, “Two Women in Conversation: a Blues Approach to May Ayim and Audre Lorde“, earned second place in her category.

Here’s her summary of the paper:

Even though Ayim’s and Lorde’s poetry share similar themes, few comparisons have been made between the women as poets. I analyze them side-by-side and examine the intertextual dialogue that emerges from the interlacing of their poetry. Furthermore, my research into Ayim’s untranslated and virtually unknown poems reveals how writing helped her psychologically, and my paper calls for a deeper look at Ayim as an equal to Lorde and as a poet creating her own identity within the blues tradition.

Congratulations, Jenn!  You’ve worked so hard at Stetson and we’re all proud of you!

NOTE: Also during Stetson Showcase, Jenn and a few fellow tutors presented their excellent research paper analyzing the effectiveness of The Writing Center at Stetson University. They had also presented this research at the Southeastern Writing Center Association conference (SWCA) where they were highly commended for their work.

Read more about Jenn’s award she received at the SWCA conference.