Three winners and three honorable mentions have been named in the 19th annual Howard Plaggemars Essay/Poetry Competition, held for students enrolled in the 2000 Vienna Summer School.
All entries responded to some aspect of each
student's experiences in Europe this past summer under the
guidance of Dr. Stephen I. Hemenway, who has been director
of the Vienna Summer School program for 25 years and is a
professor of English at Hope. Howard Plaggemars, donor of
the prizes, is a 1960 and 1961 alumnus of the Vienna Summer
School, as well as a 1960 Hope graduate.
The winners are: first place, senior Sara
Richmond of Alma, who is majoring in English, for her poem
titled "From 1030, Lechnerstrasse"; second place, junior
Lora Van Uffelen of Holland, who is majoring in engineering,
for her essay called "Standing Room"; and third place,
Cynthia Baine-DeMaagd, a Baylor University graduate who is a
retired French and English teacher from Holland High School,
for her poem titled "Mein Herz."
The three honorable mentions are: junior Kristin
Lamers of Hudsonville, who is a nursing major, for her poem
called "Little Sky"; Erica Hepp, a Boston College junior and
communications major from Milton, Vt., for a memoir titled
"My Vienna Summer School Expenses"; and 2000 Hope graduate
Kristina Pecora of Lansing, for an essay called "Coming
Home."
Three Vienna Summer School graduates, all of whom
are previous winners in the Plaggemars Essay Competition,
served as judges: Tom Bamborough, a 1983 Hope graduate who
is principal of Bamborough Print Communication in Ada;
Marnie Marsters Lamberson of Glen Ridge, N.J., a 1985 Hope
graduate who is vice president and spokesperson for the New
Jersey, New York and Connecticut offices of First Union
Corporation; and Dr. Elizabeth Trembley, who is a visiting
associate professor of English at Hope and author of a study
of Michael Crichton.
Consisting of two three-week sessions, the Vienna
Summer School offers students a choice of work in art
history, communication, economics, Austrian history, music
history, German and Austrian literature, Eastern European
literature and a senior seminar, all taught in English, as
well as courses in German language, taught in German.
Students are housed with Austrian families, and are free to
plan their leisure time and take weekend excursions led by
Hemenway to places like Salzburg, Venice, Budapest, Prague
and the Austrian Alps.