Senior English Award 2010

Senior English Award

Teachers of the English Department nominate top seniors from their classes who exemplify best the traits that we try to nurture in the English Department – the ability to read challenging texts critically, to write about things they care about with precision, and to speak with passion. They love the power of language in its myriad forms. Teachers vote for one male and one female senior who models these attributes. The book that we give to the winners is slim, but profound. It is called This is Water. It’s a commencement speech given by the writer David Foster Wallace which asks the important question: “How do we keep from going through adult life unconsciously, comfortably entrenched in habit?”

On behalf of the English Department I would like to recognize Safiya Elahi, who will be attending Loyola University in Chicago, and Taylor Werkema, who will be attending Emory University, as the 2010 winners of the Senior English Award.