[lg policy] Ho June (Sean) Rhee ’21 Wins Ward Prize for First-Year Writing (in English)

[Harold Schiffman]

Ho June (Sean) Rhee ’21 Wins Ward Prize for First-Year Writing

October 15, 2018
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MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – A collection of four poems titled "rice burger and banana
milk" took the top spot at the 2018 Paul W. Ward ’25 Prize for excellence
in first-year writing. Writing Center Director and Senior Lecturer Mary
Ellen Bertolini presented the $500 prize to Ho June (Sean) Rhee ’21 at an
October 5 celebration in Twilight Auditorium during Family Weekend.

Rhee wrote and illustrated the poems as a final project for his course,
"The English Language in a Global Context," which covered themes such as
linguistic variation, language and globalization, language policy, and
education. Students were asked to write for an audience beyond the
classroom—to make some of the abstract concepts accessible to a broader
audience.

“I didn’t want a 5–6 page, Times New Roman, 12-point font, double-spaced
research paper as my final project,” said Rhee. “Rather than looking
outward into the global issues of languages, I wanted to look inward into
my relationship with languages.”

Although Rhee is originally from South Korea—English is his second
language—he says that he was “always floating among cultures growing up. I
was an in-betweener, and I saw myself as a fusion dish, a crossbreed of
cultures.”

Rhee says that winning the Ward Prize prompted him to reflect on his years
of English-learning experience and confront his own lack of self-confidence
and feelings that he was missing an authentic voice in his writing.

“‘rice burger and banana milk’
<http://www.middlebury.edu/newsroom/archive/2018-news/node/Ho%20June%20(Sean)%20Rhee>
showed me the exit to step outside of the ivory tower and roam around my
inner thoughts and emotions,” said Rhee. “I didn’t feel the pressure to use
specific jargons and complex sentence structures to make my work sound more
‘sophisticated.’ I simply transcribed what I felt into words and lines. I
was finally able to find my voice and share my thoughts.”
<http://www.middlebury.edu/system/files/media/sean_rhee_ward_prize.jpg?itok=AHLDXm3m>

*Paul W. Ward ’25 Memorial Prize winner Ho June (Sean) Rhee with advisor
Shawna Shapiro, associate professor of writing and rhetoric. Photo: Rafael
Cruz Hernandez ’19*

“The best pieces for this assignment, no matter what the genre, are those
that engage both the head and the heart,” said Shawna Shapiro, associate
professor of writing and rhetoric and linguistics. “What impresses me most
about Sean’s work is that he employs a rich linguistic palette—including
Korean, Tagalog, Spanish, and English, as well as hand-drawn
illustrations—to create an emotional landscape that is both complex and
relatable.”

This year’s Ward Prize winners and honorees, all members of the Class of
2021, were nominated by their instructors across a range of academic
disciplines. A committee of three faculty members, including Pat Zupan
(Italian), Vicki Backus (biology), and Kristina Sargent (economics) judged
the submissions.

“We are impressed this year that among the students honored today are those
for whom English is just one of many languages they speak,” said Bertolini.
“Moreover, we are impressed at the range of interests and styles that all
your writing represents: the judges read personal narratives, critical
arguments, creative work, and research papers from many departments and
across many divisions.”

Two students received runner-up awards. Emma Norton was nominated by
writing professor Catharine Wright for her first-year seminar essay, “Ink:
A Meditation on My Mother and Toni Morrison’s *Sula*.” And Madeleine
Stutt’s essay, “By the Water,” was nominated by senior lecturer David Bain.

Honorable mention awards were given to three students. Kamli Faour’s essay,
“Assimilation Nation,” was nominated by Professor Hector Vila. Audrey Kelly
was nominated by Catharine Wright for her essay, “Nothing Is Ever as Simple
as Black and White.” And Lachlan Pinney’s “Definers, Defined, and Escapees”
was nominated by Professor Brett Millier.

*This Ward prize is named in honor of Paul W. Ward, a graduate of the Class
of 1925, whose lifelong career as a journalist and diplomatic reporter
bought him both the Pulitzer Prize and the French Legion of Honor.
Throughout his career, he emphasized the use of basic English as a writer's
most necessary tool.*

*By Stephen Diehl; Photos by Raf Hernandez ’19*

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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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