| Oct. 27, 2009 CONTACT: Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart, 806-651-2931, rhart@wtamu.edu COPY BY: Rana McDonald, 806-651-2129, rmcdonald@wtamu.edu Sixteen WTAMU Freshmen Selected for Trip to Turkey CANYON, Texas—Shock is the word that best describes the reaction of 16 freshmen who were announced as winners of the Readership WT essay contest at West Texas A&M University. More than 240 WTAMU freshmen wrote essays about this year’s Readership WT book selection A Thousand Splendid Suns, and 16 winners were announced during the University’s annual Convocation Oct. 15. The win will take the students to Turkey in March 2010 to work in service projects and teach English at a school in Goreme. “I wasn’t even sure they had called my name,” Tiffany Garcia, a freshman education major from Denver City, said. “I’m usually not that lucky, but I am so excited about the chance to go to Turkey.” The trip marks the third international sojourn for winners of a Readership WT essay contest. Previous winners have traveled to Poland (2008) to follow in the footsteps of Elie Wiesel, the internationally known Holocaust survivor and author of the 2007 book selection, Night, and to Africa (2009) for the 2008 book What is the What to work with the Rising Fountains Foundation. “These trips have changed the lives of our students,” Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart, associate provost for academic affairs and director of Readership WT, said. “The trips tie into the Readership WT book selection, and each experience has surpassed our wildest expectations and helped shape each student’s perspective in ways we never imagined.” In addition to being named essay winners, the students also got the opportunity to meet Khaled Hosseini, author of A Thousand Splendid Suns and the keynote speaker at Convocation. “I love to read, and this book is definitely on my top five list,” essay winner Abby Bishop, a freshman English major from Canyon, said. Anna Taylor, a freshman nursing major also from Canyon, agrees with her fellow essay winner. “This was a great book. I couldn’t put it down, and I think our trip to Turkey will be a great experience.” Corbin Russell, a freshman psychology major from Canyon also liked the book and shared his reaction at being named one of the 16 essay winners. “Disbelief; but once the reality set in, I was really excited,” he said. The 240 essays submitted in the essay contest made the final decision a hard one. From the 240 essays, 44 students were interviewed, and from that pool of 44, the selection committee had to narrow the list to just 16. “I’ve never been a very good writer,” Jaqueline Cervantes, a freshman business major from Wellington, said. “When they called my name, I was shocked.” It will be an opportunity of a lifetime for the students. In addition to teaching English to children at the school in Goreme, they also will stay with the families of some of the children at the school. This will give them an opportunity to experience the Turkish culture firsthand while helping the children practice their English-speaking skills at home. “Service projects like this will be at the heart of what we’re trying to do on this trip,” Lowery-Hart said. “The students will begin preparing for the trip in early spring. We will become a family by the start of the trip and come back as spokesmen for the University to share our experiences with the community.” The 16 students who won and will travel to Turkey during Spring Break are listed by hometown. Four alternates also are listed.
Abilene
Alisha Davis, freshman pre-law major
Amarillo
Kameron Graves, freshman business education major—alternate
Jonathan Harton, freshman pre-engineering major—alternate
Jarrett Jackson, freshman business major
Lynsi Porterfield, freshman music education major—alternate
Haley Stoddard, freshman psychology major
Booker
Miguel Garcia, freshman engineering major
Canyon
Abby Bishop, freshman English major
Corbin Russell, freshman psychology major
Anna Taylor, freshman nursing major
Denver City
Tiffani Garcia, freshman education major
Forgan, Okla.
Kalli Ritterbush, freshman pre-physical therapy major
Friona
Natalia Rodriguez, freshman animal science major
Harker Heights
Sara Saucedo, freshman English major—alternate
Hereford
Ethan Wales, mass communication/broadcasting major
Houston
Brandon Boyd, freshman computer information systems major
Kempner
Taylor Cutbirth, freshman education major
Morton
Colton Risinger, freshman pre-medicine major
Moscow, Kan.
Brandy Roberts, freshman undeclared major
Wellington
Jaqueline Cervantes, freshman business major —WTAMU— | 