2019 Fall The Honorable Mention

The most recent editions of The Forum and Ellipsis in the Nunemaker lobby. Photo courtesy of Ceci Rigby Honors College Students Take Leadership Positions with Westminster Publications B Y G W E N D E LY N S A L A Z A R The Forum and Ellipsis are both longstanding publications “Everything that comes from The Forum has been looked at run by Westminster students. While Ellipsis is published an- by me so many times. I oversee the students in the class and nually, The Forum consists of both print and online content lead the team of editors,” Mondeaux said. published much more regularly. Its current managing editor, McTee, the managing editor, wants to pursue a career in Marina McTee, and editor-in-chief, Cami Mondeaux, are both journalism that involves critiquing media. The Forum and members of the Honors College. Honors College have made her a better journalist, she said. McTee is responsible for managing “The Forum has taught me how to and editing content produced by The exist in the media world. The Honors “Honors has given me a lot of critical Forum. She also helps develop story College has helped me be able to look thinking skills and taught me to evaluate ideas and maintain brand consistency at an issue from different perspectives,” literature both as a reader and a writer.” and publication standards. McTee said. “We cover anything and everything Mondeaux, the Editor-in-Chief, inViviana Grigware (’20) happening at Westminster. We protends to be a reporter who covers polduce content that we think is importitics. She says she will bring the skills ant and relevant,” McTee said. she acquired from the Honors College and The Forum with her. Mondeaux has control over The Forum and must give per“The Honors College transformed the way I interact with mission before anything is published. She also helps give the people,” Mondeaux said. It made me more confident to ask staff members guidance every step of the way. questions, which is very important in journalism. Every day I continued on page 11 PAGE FIVE shift towards more PAGE Aintentional incorporation of wellness in WTT FOUR · · Fall 2019 Volume 18 Issue 1 Writing changes in Welcome to Thinking Professors outside of the classroom: Books written by Honors faculty BY CAMI MONDEAUX ment in 1970. Nietzsche’s Last Laugh (Cambridge University Press) – Nick More More provides one of the first full-length treatments of Nietzsche’s frequently criticized posthumous text, Ecce Homo, reorienting our understanding of the work as satiric treatise that critiques poor philosophy through comic means. T. S. Eliot and the Art of Collaboration (Cambridge University Press) – Richard Badenhausen Badenhausen explores Eliot’s collaboration with a wide range of other writers in his poetry, prose, and drama. The book demonstrates how Eliot’s focus on collaboration is tied to social, cultural, and political concerns. Public Policy and Land Exchange (Routledge) – Giancarlo Panagia According to the publisher, Panagia’s book is “the first to bring economic sociology theory to the study of federal land exchanges.” The author uses case studies to explore strategies used by land developers in federal-private land swaps, some of which constitute corruption. The Predicteds (Sourcebooks Fire) – Christy Seifert The author of numerous books, Seifert has written a compelling young adult novel that explores dystopian themes like computers predicting future behavior. This suspense-filled teenage drama has been translated into three languages. Mutuality, Mystery and Mentorship in Higher Education (Sense Publishers) – Mary Jo Hinsdale This book is geared toward college faculty and staff who want to do more than just teach – they want to mentor and foster a relationship with their students. Hinsdale discusses race, gender, and class relations that continue to exclude marginalized students from higher education and meaningful connections with faculty. Hinsdale proposes a new form of mentorship that focuses on reciprocity and decolonizing the mentor-protégé relationship in the hopes that such guidance will improve outcomes for marginalized students. The Mirror Test (Knopf ) – J. Kael Weston Before writing this book, Weston spent seven years in Iraq and Afghanistan as a member of the U.S. State Department. When he returned home, amidst the heartbreak of paying respect to the dead and wounded, he began to ponder the lessons that could be learned from these experiences. He reflected on the wars he endured and began to ask questions about warfare – wondering when they will end and at what cost. The Spiral Jetty Encyclo (University of Utah Press) – Hikmet Sidney Loe In this book, Loe provides a source of information and insight for anyone interested in the construction and significance of Spiral Jetty, an earthwork that Robert Smithson contributed to the Land Art move2 The Writing Center: More Than the Commas BY MAGGIE REGIER It’s 2:00 pm on Thursday and your paper is due tomorrow at writing, needs to be done alone. midnight. You wrote the paper in a caffeinated haze the night Writing center consultant and Honors student Julia Vorsteveld before, so you decide to schedule a quick appointment with the said there’s a strong emphasis on developing a voice during the Writing Center to look it over before submitting. Welcome to Thinking class, but it’s missing a link to writing. This is a situation Hon“I think there’s kind of a ors students know all too misconception about writing, well. In fact, it’s so common that you do it alone,” Vor“ My favorite consultation is a brainstorming session. that Honors students make steveld said. “But actually, if I’ve learned a lot from asking questions and I think up 13-14% of consultations you think about it, in Welthat coming up with a strong thesis before you at the Westminster Writing come to Thinking, the class is Center—usually during their set up in a discussion so you’re write your paper can be so influential on your final first semester of Welcome to talking about the ideas.” product.” Thinking, according to WritWhile students may being Center director and Honlieve the center is a place to Jennifer Hylwa ('20) ors professor Chris LeCluyse. go when their writing is inadThese students may often equate, all of the consultants come in with a bias and asechoed the thought that writsume that assignments in the Honors College can’t be understood ers of all levels should utilize the center. Students who seek help by peer tutors who are not in that program. However, all the stu- from an early point produce higher quality work and good writers dent consultants who work there can provide help. revise and revise often. “There are lots of incredibly effective, intelligent students at “Revision is a healthy, normal, effective part of writing,” LeWestminster who just don’t happen to be in the Honors [Col- Cluyse said. “And getting feedback from other people is also norlege] and they can benefit by getting feedback on their writing mal and healthy.” regardless of if they are in…honors,” said LeCluyse. While many students come to the center for quick fixes or last looks, the true potential of utilizing this resource is much bigger. “There is so much more we can do than just look at commas,” LeCluyse said. “Let’s talk about the ideas that you’re kicking around, let’s talk about the goals of the assignment. There’s so much.” In fact, more substantive consultations often result in better end products. “My favorite consultation is a brainstorming session,” said consultant Jen Hylwa, who is also in Honors. “I’ve learned a lot from asking questions and I think that coming up with a strong thesis before you write your paper can be so influential on your final product.” One of the focuses of the center is to shift the idea that writing, especially ‘good’ Student in Writing Center. Photo courtesy of Ceci Rigby 3 Honors emphasizes student wellness in and out of the classroom BY BROOKE SCUDDER “Don’t be a duck.” This unofficial motto of the Honors College describes a simplified view of how to survive as a first-year student in college: don’t force yourself to appear calm and serene on the surface while kicking frantically to keep afloat underneath. The stress of trying to stay afloat affects college students across the country, but only recently have campuses begun to bring the conversation about wellness out of the shadows. Beginning this year, Richard Badenhausen, dean of the Honors College, and the Honors staff incorporated the topic of wellness into the first-year courses Welcome to Thinking and Tuesday Conversation. “We have to go at it very deliberately,” said Badenhausen. “[Because] there is no magic bullet in addressing wellness issues.” Inspired by the Engelhard Project at Georgetown University in Washington D.C., the incorporation of wellness programming is occurring on various fronts in the Honors College. One pilot program involves the adoption of texts that explicitly talk about mental health, which in the section of Welcome to Thinking taught by Badenhausen and Nick More is Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar. Tied into the reading of Plath’s challenging novel are conversations with expert counselors from the campus Counseling Center during class. Finally, students compose a written reflection on this discussion, so they can process the difficult material. Badenhausen calls his Welcome to Thinking class “an appropriate setting because of [the] grand transition” from high school to college that is unique to first-year college students. The stressors of that first-year experience—living away from home, having complete control over one’s life, and the big question of the future looming in front of students—offer some of the biggest challenges that young adults will face in their life. Trying to navigate those trials are nearly as stressful as the stressors themselves. Outside of the Welcome to Thinking classes, staff like Stephanie Santarosa, assistant director of honors and fellowship advising, are also working with students directly to improve their wellness practices. “Wellness in students means a lot to me,” said Santarosa, who emphasizes the effort by herself and other staff to help students find balance in their lives. After three student suicides during her first two years on campus, Santarosa pushed harder for conversations on student wellness. She talks one-on-one with students, asking “How are you taking care of yourself?” and offering support in the form of statements like “I believe you can do this hard thing and I will support you through this.” She said this is a mindset she encourages other faculty to adopt and use as well. Her conversations with faculty have focused on topics such as flawed student success narratives that emphasize perfection and disallow mistakes. She urges faculty to help students change these disastrous narratives to framing statements like “I will be exceptional in some areas, and have room to grow in others.” Wellness is a growing national conversation that the Honors College has joined wholeheartedly, destigmatizing mental health and teaching students how important it is to take care of themselves. Nick More and Richard Badenhausen’s Welcome to Thinking class. Photo courtesy of Ceci Rigby 4 Writing changes in Welcome to Thinking B Y K AT H R Y N J E N S E N A N D J U L I A V O R S T E V E L D A student prepares an outline for a long-form prompt. Photo courtesy of Ceci Rigby Welcome to Thinking (WTT) often sets off a succession of challenge students to analyze and synthesize texts, develop intermemories in Honors students: long nights reading, visits to esting arguments, and strengthen one’s voice. the Writing Center, feelings of confusion, incredible moments Dr. Julie Stewart, Associate Professor in the Honors College, of insight, and fruitful said the goal of WTT is to class discussions. WTT is help students “write clearly “My experience going in was that I thought I was a pretty the first seminar honors and persuasively in an students take – lateral and authentic voice.” But what good writer already, and I learned that I really wasn’t.” traditional entry – and it’s does it mean to write clearWilliam Harvey (’22) arguably the most importly, persuasively, and in an ant for the development of authentic voice? To answer students’ critical thinking, this question, many stureading, and writing skills. dents point to a transition In 2016, WTT came to fruition, with a lateral-entry option in the way they conceptualize writing during their time in WTT. that began in fall 2017. The course originally involved ten “short“It’s difficult changing something that’s been ingrained in you form prompts” and two “long-form prompts.” These prompts for so long,” said Maya Thayne, a first-year prospective nursing 5 Fatima Santos, Welcome to Thinking III student, catches up on some reading for class. Photo courtesy of Ceci Rigby student currently in WTT I. “Writing in high school, for me, writing for international students. You basically work on how was a lot of pulling out different sources...and talking about it as to write a summary and how to do a close reading. WTT III is if the teacher had never heard about it, and here it’s assumed that generally helping us to improve all kinds of abilities, like close whoever is reading has read the readings, which changes the basis reading and having conversations,” Li said. of your paper from that summary to that analysis.” Communicating effectively through writing is an essential For William Harvey skill in college, any and all (’22), an economics career paths, and interperand philosophy double sonal relationships. Writing “Being able to have your own singular way of expressing major, WTT I and II were allows us to connect to humbling experiences. others; it provides a space yourself is pretty much what makes you, you.” “My experience going in to succinctly express our Julie Stewart was that I thought I was a ideas to the world. pretty good writer already, “Being able to have and I learned that I really your own singular way of wasn’t.” He said some of expressing yourself is pretty the feedback he got from his professors included: “You don’t have much what makes you, you,” Stewart said. “From a sociological a voice, you’re talking in the passive constantly, let’s hear your perspective, people without the ability to communicate are not actual voice and opinion.” people, so it is by virtue of us being with each other in groups of Terry Li (’21), an international student and physics major, various sizes and being able to communicate–that’s kind of a sui said, “I feel like not speaking English as my first language gives generis exposition of what it means to be human.” me more challenges reading and writing,” but that WTT III has For Sanskriti Tismeena (’21), a computer science major, writimproved his ability to communicate. ing can be a form of social justice activism. “I think that most of “The first year when I just came to the United States, I took my activism is in writing,” Tismeena said. “I don’t usually take 6 up positions that involve activism, which I want to, but because Honors faculty decided that this fall students would write eight of school I can’t do volunteering and stuff. So I do it through short-form prompts instead of ten. Stewart spearheaded a climate writing.” survey in 2018 that exposed high levels of stress and anxiety in WTT also enables students from less writing-intensive acastudents. In response, the Honors faculty decided to reduce the demic backgrounds to not just practice their skills but to also number of prompts in all WTT courses. practice expressing their unique perspective both in class and on “We’ve also looked at national data on student anxiety and paper. Thayne (’23), for stress, and we realized we example, hopes to bring her would like to try to do writing capabilities into the something to lessen the “[We] realized we would like to try to do something to field of medicine. burden for the students’ “Having my interest in first experience in the Honlessen the burden for the students’ first experience in the the medical field, there’s a ors College” Stewart said. Honors College” lot of writing that goes on The reduction also allows there,” Thayne said. “I don’t students more time to Julie Stewart know if you’ve ever read improve the prompts they medical papers but they’re still have to write. long and boring. I want to Faculty will continue be able to bring in good writing to the medical field,” as a way to to utilize student feedback in structuring WTT. “The syllabus communicate medical terminology with “somebody who knows is always a living document,” according to Stewart. “We always nothing about medicine.” think about each semester and we try to get together as a faculty Beyond communication, writing in WTT also aids interdisand kind of just talk about what went well, what didn’t, what we ciplinary thinking. “That helps us to move away from the belief can do to improve–everything about the seminar–and what kind that there is an answer to a question, and closer to the idea that of feedback have we received from students that we might try to there are multiple answers to a question,” Stewart said. incorporate.” The time that WTT course work requires is significant, so Richard Badenhausen converses with his Welcome To Thinking students. Photo courtesy of Ceci Rigby 7 Student Profile: Kenzie Campbell, Westminster’s First Truman Scholar BY NICOLE KLONIZOS Senior Honors student Kenzie Campbell is Westminster and I think that without Honors or at least freshman year I could College’s very first applicant and recipient of the Truman not have represented myself in this effective, concise way that was Scholarship, “the premier graduate fellowship in the United States required by this application,” Campbell said. for those pursuing careers as public service leaders,” according to Cunningham-Bryant advises Westminster students on their the Truman website. Campbell is pursuing a custom major that fellowship applications, and she supported Kenzie throughout the combines psychology and justice studies, and has been in the Truman process. Cunningham-Bryant encouraged Campbell to Honors College since her first year. She is also vice president for apply for Truman because of her dedication to public service. ASW this year. Campbell is especially passionate about helping survivors The Truman application requires concise writing that of gender-based violence. “Her commitment to the survivors captures an applicant’s passions. Campbell spent weeks writing, of gender-based violence, to changing the perception and rewriting, and working one-on-one with Dr. community understanding of what genderAlicia Cunningham-Bryant, the director of based violence is, and coming up with ways fellowship advising. She sent in her application to address it is amazing,” Cunningham-Bryant and, after a series of interviews, she won. said. “All of her outreach work, all of her work Upon arriving at Westminster, Campbell with Dumke, and all of her ASW work speaks took Welcome to Thinking I and II. This to how committed she is to making change.” course focuses on writing, writing, and even After graduation, Campbell is interested more writing. Each week students compose in taking a gap year or two before pursuing a short paper analyzing a text they have read. graduate education. She is planning on either This process contributed to Campbell’s growth going to Summer Institute in Washington D.C. as an effective writer. She learned to create or working for Best Friends Animal Society specific arguments, clearly communicate her in her gap year. And then it’s off to graduate ideas, and demonstrate her critical thinking school in public service with the $30,000 Kenzie Campbell. skills. support of the Truman Foundation. Photo courtesy of Ceci Rigby “My writing skills have improved so much, Professor Profile: Kael Weston BY REBECCA BLANTON Kael Weston has served as writer-in-residence at the Honors and Facebook, good writing still counts for a lot,” Kael said. College since 2017. Prior to his time at Westminster College, he Kael is an avid writer himself and has written a book called The worked as a political advisor in the U.S. State Department for Mirror Test and ten articles for The New York Times. He recently twelve years and spent seven of those years in Iraq and Afghanistan. started writing monthly for The Salt Lake Tribune and said he Weston said there were two functions of serving as writer-in- hopes to start writing beyond war and write on various political residence: teaching and writing. issues in the American west. Kael taught a number of classes during his time at Westminster He said he believes good writing is more than just writing. “What including Going to War: Costs and a good education means is that Westminster Consequences, The Global Voices of War, and students and citizens overall are engaged in War Movies: Post 9/11. issues that matter,” Kael said. “It’s getting “One of the goals I had was to look at not involved in your communities, speaking up, just how the United States is involved in not taking for granted the opportunities you the world but how others see us,” Kael said. all had to work for.” “I wanted to help get a true international After this fall semester, Weston will leave perspective.” Westminster and his role as writer-in-residence, “What I loved seeing [in the classroom] and focus on writing a second book about the was how students teach each other. When you importance of moral courage. have good discussions that Honors promotes, “After my time here, I am hopeful about your I think the expectations are high,” Kael said. generation,” Kael said. “I leave Westminster “Personally, it’s made me a better writer.” optimistic. I see in all of you [Westminster He said he wanted to help students become students] what we need more of in our better writers during his time at Westminster. Kael Weston’s book The Mirror Test (2016). country.” “While it’s a world of tweets, and Instagram, Photo courtesy of Ceci Rigby 8 Let’s Get Your Perspective Student Perspectives on Just Mercy Vanessa Eveleth Sophie Caligiuri Student perspective Peer mentor perspective I have never stepped foot inside a prison. On occasion, I find myself in the passenger seat of a car, sailing along the highway, heading west. As the Utah State Prison begins to materialize, looming through the raindrop stained glass of the car windows, I can’t help but gawk. Transfixed as I am by this mass of stone and fence, I Peer Mentor Sophie Caligiuri, (’22). think, ‘What’s inside?’ I see that Photo courtesy of Ceci Rigby the sun-yellowed yard is always empty; no one is ever outside. I wonder: what would it be like to go without the sky? But I’ve never stepped foot inside a prison, so to me, I suppose it doesn’t matter. Our car speeds past. I am not the only one. You too, I’m sure, are guilty of this. Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy is a microscope. In his memoir, Stevenson knowingly guides the reader through the most intimate and horrifying corners of the United States’ prison system. While reading the work, I came face-to-face with several people who spent most of their lives locked in a jail cell on death row. These prisoners are largely low-income people of color, and in many specific cases, are wrongly condemned or completely innocent. Justice is a powerful word - one I’m not sure I’ll ever truly be able to define. However, after reading Just Mercy, there is something I now know. The worst crime committed in this book was not by any of the prisoners. The worst crime was committed by the justice system, by the general population, by me, and yes—even by you. It was committed in a perceived state of innocence, in a place of safety. This crime is apathy. In order to define justice, you must first ask yourself: Am I guilty? When I think of justice, I now think of the innocent people— my age or younger—who have been condemned to die by a system that has always disfavored them. I envision the opening chapter of Just Mercy where Stevenson writes: “We are all implicated when we allow other people to be mistreated.” I think of the empty fields off to the side of the freeway surrounded by barbed wire. I think, “let them see the sky.” The Oxford Dictionary defines justice as “Just behavior or treatment,” “The quality of being fair and reasonable” and “The administration of the law or authority in maintaining this.” Just Mercy exposes how the criminal justice system operates more from prejudice than fairness and reason. After reading Just Mercy as the Honors summer common read, my definition of justice now Vanessa Eveleth, (’23). includes upholding of the law with Photo courtesy of Ceci Rigby fairness, reason, and compassion for humanity. Justice is not incarceration because incarceration stores people in prisons. Justice is not killing, which is what the criminal justice system does by placing inmates on death row. Justice is finding the person responsible for a crime, not framing another. Justice is holding a person accountable for their actions and only their actions. In 1944, George Stinney was falsely convicted of murdering two white girls. There was no evidence, but, being a black youth in South Carolina, Stinney was forced to confess and placed on death row. Our laws are meant to prevent people from hurting others or themselves; they should not be an excuse for discrimination. Justice is not only fair sentencing but also fair treatment of those serving time in prison. Over 50 percent of U.S. inmates are diagnosed with mental illness, yet they are denied treatment. Justice would be providing the care that is necessary for mental and physical health. For some, this requires treatment through a mental health facility rather than a prison; facilitating such care is justice. Stevenson’s journey as a legal attorney is an indispensable reflection on the U.S. criminal justice system. It can and should be used to rethink how we define and implement justice. Fairness, reason, and compassion must be applied to all criminal trials while upholding the law; only then can justice be guaranteed for all people in the United States. “Af te r re ad i n g Ju st Mercy , my d efi n i tio n of ju s tice n ow i n c l u d e s u ph o l d i n g of t he l aw w ith f airne s s , re a s o n , a n d co m pa s s i o n fo r “Jus t Me rcy is a m icro sco pe. In his novel, h u man ity. Jus t i ce i s n ot i n c a rce rat i o n because Stevenso n k nowingl y guides the read er through in c arce ratio n s to re s pe opl e i n pr i s on s . Justice the m o st intim ate and ho r r if y ing co r ners of the is n ot killin g, w h i c h i s w h at t h e c r i m i n al justice United States’ pr iso n system.” sys te m d o e s by pl a c i n g i n m ate s on d e ath row.” 9 NEWS & NOTES Meghan Nestel (’10) has just published a lengthy scholarly article in the Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality entitled “A Space of Her Own: Genderfluidity and Negotiation in The Life of Christina of Markyate.” Nestel also just completed her Ph.D. in Medieval Literature at Arizona State University. Caroline Hill (’11) is completing her final year of law school at University of California, Hastings and has been interning at the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office. Zak Burkley (’13) defended his dissertation last spring and now has a PhD in Physics from Colorado State University. He recently moved to Zurich where he will build a special laser system which allows for the study of exotic atoms that are extremely amenable to theoretical calculations. Melanie Long (’14) received her Ph.D. in Economics from Colorado State University and has just started as an Assistant Professor of Economics at the College of Wooster in Ohio. Sara McCaskey (’14) and David Luhr (‘12) have relocated to Bend, Oregon. Willy Palomo (’15) has started a new position as Director for the Center for the Book at Utah Humanities. Lexi Pasi (’15) is working on her PhD in Mathematics at Baylor University. Sabina Schill (’15), who is working on her Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering at the University of Colorado, Boulder, has just been honored with the 2019 Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in STEM Education for her research correlating the relationship between university STEM outreach mentors with their science/ engineering identity. Mackenzie Crow (’16) just started the graduate program in international affairs at Columbia University and is rooming with Hannah Williams (’16), who is also at Columbia working on her Master’s in nonprofit management. Maddie Klein (’17) is in her first year of law school at BYU, joining Honors alums Carissa Uresk (’18) and Peter Seppi (’17), who are already studying there. Nicole McKenna (’18) recently started the doctoral program in Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati and had essays that were focused on trauma-informed applications in criminal justice settings published or accepted for publication in the Sexual Assault Report and the Journal for Aggression, Maltreatment, and Trauma. Charlie Saad (’18) will be starting the MA program at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs next fall. Elaine Sheehan (’18) has just started her Master’s in Education in the ELP program at the University of Utah and is also working as a Graduate Assistant at SLCC as a software implementer and coach for their early-alert computer program. Taylor Stevens (’18) covers government and politics for The Salt Lake Tribune and was recently named the Utah Society of Professional Journalists’ 2019 Best Newspaper Reporter. Jen Rowley (’19) recently joined the board of the Hartman Institute. Annette Donald (’19) presented her research, “The Impacts of Sex Education and Pornography on Utah Adolescents’ Sexual Health Practices” at three national conferences this fall. The following 2019 Honors alums just had their book on Menlo Industries—co-authored with Westminster professors Michael Pacanowsky, Vicki Whiting, and Susan Arsht—published this fall: Sara D’Agostino, Maggie Fischer, Rachel Iverson, Elizabeth Johnson, and Cole Polychronis. Sara D’Agostino (’19) and Maggie Fischer (’19) both started positions with Goldman Sachs upon graduation this spring. Carolyn Janecek (’19) started Oregon State University’s MFA program in creative writing this fall. Maggie Regier (’20), Emma Thompson (’20), Cora Fossen (’22), and Hannah Orr (’21) received the Fringe Pick award for their work on Love, Ann with Pussycat Productions at the 2019 Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival. Lia Knox-Hershey (’21) started an internship with the Salt Lake Peer Court and began the Peer Mentor for Executive Functioning class and program through the Take Action Grant. Cami Mondeaux (’21) worked as a news intern at KUER 90.1, NPR Utah for the fall semester, where she covered events and government to talk about them on the radio. Maya Rockwell (’21) is the Director of Programming for the ASW Events team. Obaidullah Barakzai (’22) worked for an online tutoring English language startup called Naativ as a marketing and international business development intern this summer. Abbie Hagen (’22) recently completed her summer internship working in the Idaho Shakespeare Festival Costume Department. Alicia Kuhlmann (’23) engineered “A More Realistic Solution to Refugee Housing Using the Isoperimetric Honeycomb Conjecture” and attended the International Science and Engineering Fair two years in a row where she placed in several categories. Ambur Staab (’19) started medical school at the University of Utah this fall. Did you do something notable? We want to know! Email your news and notes to Richard Badenhausen at [e-mail]. 10 Meet the SHC What is your go to How has honors What is the weirdest writing process? impacted your writing? prompt you’ve written? “My go-to writing process it to start as early as I can. I always look at the prompt topic before we start a unit so I can find quotes that may support my argument during class discussions. I then begin to outline my paper and group my quotes into common themes, make a thesis based on them, and go from there. I always try to get my writing done a week before it is due so I can submit it to the writing center for lastminute help.” Asma Dahir, SHC President “Honors has cultivated a personal desire to justify my claims; especially with writing in the fields of dance and education, Honors has taught me how to connect to broad philosophical ideas and social truths, whereas in the past my claims would have been isolated to my discipline or topic. Honors has taught me to always ask: what are the stakes?” Kate Blair, SHC Secretary “I think the weirdest prompt I’ve ever written was a prompt I wrote in Welcome to Thinking II. My entire prompt completely dissed every argument the author of the text made. While I don’t remember exactly what the reading was for that prompt, I remember this being one of my best prompts because Nick More put a smiley face on my paper for the first time.” Marley Dominguez, SHC Vice President Secretary Kate Blair (’21), Historian Anisa Dahir (’21), President Asma Dahir (’21), Vice President Marley Dominguez (’21), Treasurer Pedro Rico (’21). Photo courtesy of Ceci Rigby Continued from page 1 do things for The Forum that I want to do for the rest of my life.” Both editors credit the Honors College for improving their writing skills, which they say is essential in their line of work. “It has helped me with written and spoken language,” McTee said. “I have a stronger voice in my writing, and I am more comfortable speaking publicly.” Mondeaux agreed, adding that writing is an important skill because you can explain ideas effectively and communicate to a large audience. While The Forum is a news organization centered on Westminster students, Ellipsis is a literary magazine that publishes submissions from around the world. Viviana Grigware is an Honors student and serving her second year on the Ellipsis board of editors as poetry editor. Her job is to evaluate the submissions and help decide which ones should be published. “We decide what we think other people should read,” she said. Grigware says she utilizes lessons from the Honors College during this process. “Honors has definitely given me a lot of critical thinking skills and taught me to evaluate literature both as a reader and a writer,” Grigware said. Grigware is graduating in May with an English degree. She intends to teach English abroad before returning to school to pursue a career in publishing—a career she says her time with Ellipsis and the Honors College helped prepare her for. “That’s what I want to do with my life. I want to find new pieces and expose those to the world.” Grigware says her passion is in publishing, but even if she decides on another path her writing skills will be essential. “No matter where you end up you need to know how to write well and communicate effectively. These skills translate to everything,” Grigware said. 11 HO N O RAB LE MENTION E DI T O RS 2019-2020 Cami Mondeaux (’21) Copy Editor Marina McTee (’21) Layout Editor Ceci Rigby (’22) Photo Editor Jen Hylwa (’20) Layout Editor Kate Pasco (’20) Managing Editor Lia Knox-Hershey (’21) Copy Editor Note from the Editors Writing is foundational to the Honors curriculum. Prompts give students opportunities to bring class conversations full circle. Though Honors students engage in rigorous discussions, writing is the only way to directly see into the minds of others, and for some, the only way to have their voices heard in a space where their spoken word would be silenced. The centrality of writing to the Honors experience is why we selected it for this edition’s theme. We wanted to showcase Honors students’ comprehensive engagement with both their own and others’ writing, whether that takes place in the classroom, the Writing Center, or a faculty member’s book. Honors students integrate writing into their lives not just as students but as learners. Honors College Westminster College 1840 South 1300 East Salt Lake City, Utah 84105 westminstercollege.edu/honors · · Fall 2019 Volume 18 Issue 1