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Up Close with Student Award Winners: March 2023

Boothe booklets 2018

Read-on to hear from the Fall 2022 Lunsford Award and Boothe Award winners!  All winners will be honored in ceremonies in May 2023.  As of June 2023, you can read their award-winning essays and watch recordings of their presentations through the Boothe Prize and Lunsford Award websites.

Fall 2022 Lunsford Award Winner: Chaelyn Rigmaiden-Anderson, “Professionalism of Black Hair: Workplace Standards or a Continuation of Bondage?”

Lunsford award winner Chaelyn Rigmaiden-Anderson

Chaelyn Rigmaiden-Anderson's project, Professionalism of Black Hair: Workplace Standards or a Continuation of Bondage?”, was developed in Dr. Brittany Hull’s course, "Rhetorics of Professionalism." Chaelyn writes, "My name is Chaelyn Anderson, and I hail from Berkeley, California. I am currently studying Political Science and Sociology (while dabbling in Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity). I am interested in garnering a better understanding of how humans engage with each other as well as with our political and economic systems. I feel that developing knowledge of these human interactions not only helped me engage with my PWR topic more deeply but will offer greater insight into many of my future endeavors. I hope to go to law school and practice movement lawyering. Movement lawyering follows a community model and involves engaging with and taking direction from communities impacted by systemic structures of oppression. Outside the classroom, I enjoy listening to music and am a member of Stanford Concert Network, where I help bring artists to campus for students to enjoy live music! 

"PWR 2 gave me the opportunity to research a topic that has a large personal impact and that I am especially passionate about. In a space where Black hair can often become political and disregarded, I am grateful to Dr. Hull and my classmates for creating an environment where I had the space to challenge established and harmful social norms while wearing my hair unapologetically. Researching the historical practices surrounding Black hair gave me the chance to engage with my cultural heritage more deeply and intentionally. This is especially important in a society where this heritage is often overlooked and even obscured. I know that engaging with this topic helped to instill more pride in my hair, and it is nice to know that it did the same for my fellow classmates. PWR 2 allowed me to use my voice to educate others and make them aware of the societal structures that subordinate others. After taking this class, I am even more confirmed in the fact that my voice, and the voice of others like me, have the power to change our society for the better."

Fall 2022 Lunsford Award Winner: Maya XuWWF's Flagship Species: Successful or Superficial?”  

Lunsford award winner Maya Xu poses with a bird on her shoulder.

Maya Xu's project WWF's Flagship Species: Successful or Superficial?”  was developed in Jenne Stonaker’s PWR 2 course, "In Science We Trust.Maya writes, "I’m a biology major concentrating in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and I’m a member of the Notation for Science Communication. I was born in southern California, but grew up in Hong Kong and attended high school in the Bay Area. I’m really interested in conservation biology and ecology, especially the interactions between humans and animals, and I’m super passionate about environmental education. I’m a member of Professor Rodolfo Dirzo’s lab, and I’m a docent at Stanford’s Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve (everyone should come take a tour!). I’m also a huge ornithology nerd - I love birds!! I’m currently the Financial Officer for the Stanford Birdwatching Club, and I’m a research assistant for Kelley Langhans in Gretchen Daily’s lab studying urban bird biodiversity and access to nature. I’ve also been singing in choirs since middle school, and am currently a member of the wonderful Stanford Chamber Chorale. 

"Taking ‘In Science We Trust’ with Professor Jennifer Stonaker was one of the highlights of my sophomore fall quarter. We were given so much freedom to pursue a research topic that we are truly passionate about, and I'm so happy I had the opportunity to explore how a conservation organization I'd admired since I first learned about the field of conservation uses flagship species as a key science communication strategy to inspire environmental change. Aside from completing my own research study, I also left the class with a better grasp of current scientific topics from the presentations of my classmates. While PWR 2 expanded on the research and writing skills I learned in PWR 1, it really helped me feel much more confident in public speaking. I’m excited to keep building connections between my audience and the natural world around us with my new toolkit of skills from the visual design and speaking workshops we had over the quarter."

Fall 2022 Boothe Prize Winner: Caeley Woo, "Bridging the Divide: Narrative as a Means to Create Empathy in Sexual Assault Cases." 

Boothe award winner Caeley Woo

Caeley Woo's research paper, “Bridging the Divide: Narrative as a Means to Create Empathy in Sexual Assault Cases,” was written for Becky Richardson’s PWR 1 "In Another’s Shoes: The Rhetoric of Empathy." Caeley says, "PWR 1 with the incredible Rebecca Richardson pushed me so much as a writer. At so many points throughout the process, I was unsure how to blend my personal voice with academic writing or how my different strands of arguments all connected, but Dr. Becky was always able to point me in the right direction with so much grace and ease. I am certainly a better writer as a result of Dr. Becky's 'The Rhetoric of Empathy,' but also gained a much deeper understanding of what it means to be an empathetic writer, audience, and person.

"I am currently undecided [on my major], but I am interested in symbolic systems and psychology. I am from Atlanta, Georgia. In my free time, I enjoy taking walks to the Dish, painting, listening to This American Life, and spending time with friends."

Fall 2022 Boothe Prize Honorable Mention: Jaeden Solomon Clark, From the Body, to the Mind, to the Soul: The Dialectical Disfigurement of the Self Colonialism through Jordan Peele’s Get Out (2017)

Jaeden Solomon Clark wearing a red Stanford shirt.

Jaeden Solomon Clark wrote “From the Body, to the Mind, to the Soul: The Dialectical Disfigurement of the Self Colonialism through Jordan Peele’s Get Out (2017)” for Mutallip Anwar’s section of the ESF Class "Decolonial Thought.Jaeden writes, "I am originally from Washington DC and I am currently a Mathematics and Political Science major. With that being said, as passionate as I am about the field of mathematics, I am equally as passionate about learning and working to dismantle oppressive structures within our society, focusing on the concepts of Race, Gender, and Class struggle. I am involved in many call-to-actions, leveraging my social media presence as a means to organize the youth. My other extracurriculars at Stanford include SBSE (Stanford's Black Scientists and Engineers), a BSU (Black Student Union) intern, and Club Basketball.

"The greatest gift from my ESF class was the satisfaction of feeling I had truly produced something, as it taught me how to craft anew out of a web of old. I began to really see my unique voice emerge from each body of text that I wrote; it is this voice that has refused to ever be silenced again."


 


 



 

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