Twenty-four Winners of Barnard College/CBS Essay
Contest Feted at 10th Anniversary Awards Ceremony
on April 3
New
York, N.Y., April 4, 2001 - Twenty-four high school
girls who dug deep into their own lives and the
lives of women they admired, and found powerful
ways to express their ideas, were honored at the
10th anniversary ceremony of the Barnard/CBS Essay
Contest on Tuesday, April 3 at a ceremony in McIntosh
Center.
"Every
one of the winning essays speaks with a unique,
memorable voice as it introduces the reader to
a real-life heroine," said President Judith Shapiro.
"Among these heroines are the grandmother who
had the courage to build a new life after losing
her family in the Holocaust, while always remembering
the world she lost; the social worker who became
a role model and best friend to a neglected, angry
girl; the art teacher who brought color and purpose
into the life of a bored nine-year-old; the slave
who was brave enough not only to escape, but to
repeatedly risk re-capture as she guided others
to freedom. These are just a few of the extraordinary
women we meet in these essays, women who come
alive in the writers' loving and carefully chosen
words."
Jonathan
Levi, executive assistant to New York City Schools
Chancellor Harold Levy, said the essays reminded
him that "the tools of language are accessible
to everyone - no matter their families or background.
Learning belongs to everyone."
Levi
also praised Barnard and its tradition of graduating
writers. "The ability to observe and see deeply
is something I've noted very specifically in the
women you produce," he said.
The
awards ceremony also featured a talk by Shonda
Nereida Prince, the winner of the 1991 essay contest
while at junior at Midwood High School, and who
went on to a career as an editor of a youth newspaper
in Harlem, a B.A. in journalism from SUNY New
Paltz, and her current position as an assistant
editor/writer at Weill Medical College of Cornell
University.
Winning
the contest "really boosted my confidence in my
writing skills," Prince said. "Now I challenge
all of you not to get off the track" and write
in a journal, write "until your fingers are ready
to fall off," and write for the satisfaction of
seeing your skills improve.
Natalie
Buchinsky of the Bronx High School of Science
read aloud her essay about her grandmother who,
in Buchinsky's words, "survived the memories of:
a lost sister; a dead mother and brother; and
of a dead child, whom she calls Beryl, nisht neboch
dalaybt auf tzu vasksn, who never had the chance
to grow up."
Allajah
Young of Fashion Industries High School took second
prize with an essay about a neighbor who, through
painting, "changed the world to color for me."
Landa
Alhanshaly of Richmond Hill High School won third
prize with her essay "Breaking Free of My Chains"
on Harriet Tubman, including an imaginative first-person
account in which Tubman spoke of "my desire to
breathe without fearing the merciless lash that
drew blood."
Leah
S. Alston-Phillips, a student at Offsite Educational
Services/Taft Houses won fourth prize with an
essay on her social worker, Brenda Tully who "helped
me explore myself, something very important for
a very confused teenage girl."
Shapiro
said the essays reminded her of a story about
a cello student who took a lesson from a great
master cellist.
"As
the student performed a particularly moving and
powerful passage of the piece she was practicing,
she began to cry. The master stopped her, and
said, 'No, no. The goal is not to make yourself
cry, but to make the others who listen to you
cry.' That may sound harsh to you. After all,
a musician taps deep emotions when she plays a
powerful piece, just as a writer experiences a
catharsis when she writes from the heart. But,
as that wise master cellist said, it isn't very
hard to make yourself laugh and cry. What is hard
is mastering the craft of music or writing, reaching
the point at which you are able to communicate
your views and feelings effectively to others.
In writing, the re-creation of one's personal
experience in tangible, sensory detail and the
effective use of metaphor are a couple of the
skills of the trade. When these skills are mastered
by a writer, the reader is drawn emotionally into
the world the writer has created on that blank
piece of paper. That is what tonight's winning
essayists succeeded in doing."
Now
celebrating its 10th year, participants in the
contest are asked to write about "A Woman I Admire."
This year, a record number of 624 entries were
received from 74 New York City public high schools
in all five boroughs. In the contest, which is
open to junior-class girls, over 70 percent of
the essays continue to focus on family, teachers
and literary characters rather than celebrities.
Each
year, the competition is judged by a distinguished
group of writers and teachers. This year's jurors
also judged the first contest in 1991: columnist
Anna Quindlen, novelist Mary Gordon, editor of
the Metro Section of The New York Times Joyce
Purnick, and Barnard English professors Elizabeth
Dalton and Quandra Prettyman. Quindlen, Gordon,
and Purnick are Barnard graduates.
The
winning essays can be read here:
1st Prize Winner: Natalie
Buchinsky
2nd Prize: Allajah
Young
3rd Prize: Landa
Alhanshaly
4th Prize: Leah S.
Alston-Phillips
Contact:
Petra Tuomi, Public Affairs (212) 854-7907
Cyndie Pogue, Public Affairs (212) 854-2037
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