2008 Woodie Awards
Fellowship sends students around the world
Ashley Barker
Issue date: 10/2/08 Section: Lifestyles
"All of my family and friends thought I had lost my mind," said Kellie French, after deciding to spend a week exploring Harlem through the Wentworth Travel Fellowship. She became a part of the Harlem Renaissance culture that author F.N. Monjo wrote about in his novel "The Drinking Gourd."
To prepare for her trip she read Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's "On the Shoulders of Giants." She traced the steps of Langston Hughes, went on a Harlem Heritage tour and stayed at the Sugar Hill Harlem Inn. In addition, she visited spots where the Underground Railroad ran, which was the prime focus of Monjo's story. "After seeing them I could really understand what these places meant to people," she said.
French's traveling was funded by the Wentworth Fellowship. It was named in honor of Michael D. Wentworth, a current English professor; however, it was created by Charles F. Green III. The Fellowship allows its participants to pick a writer or work of literature and travel either in America or abroad to "the stomping grounds of their favorite author; where they lived or where their characters were set," said Green, the benefactor who provides roughly $18,000 annually for the fellowship.
Green is a 1971 UNC-Wilmington graduate who began the fellowship in 2001 to allow students to truly experience their literature. "When you are actually there things are much more grandiose than they appear in books or in pictures," he said. Green has also donated to the Creative Writing and History departments.
Students have traveled to locations associated with Anne Frank, Shakespeare, Flannery O'Connell, Frank McCourt, L.M. Montgomery, Edgar Allan Poe, John Steinbeck, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Jane Austen and Charles Dickens among others.
All English majors or minors are eligible to apply. They must work with a faculty sponsor to fill out an application including a 250 -word essay describing the students proposed journey and a statement of projected expenses and a recommendation from a faculty member. After the application deadline a committee made up of Kathleen Gould, Nick Laudadio, Diana Ashe, Kathy Rugoff and Bill Atwill decide who will be traveling. Within four months of taking their trips the students are required to show a presentation of what they learned. The latest class of fellows presented this past Friday.
This past semester the committee chose nine students to be funded. In addition to French trekking across New York City, Trisha Jones traveled to Salinas and Monterey Calif.; Crystal Tatum went to South Carolina and Richmond, VA.; Sarah Withers experienced Prince Edward Island off the coast of Canada; Bernadette O'Neill traveled abroad to Limerick, Ireland; Emily Wallwork and Naomi Kemper toured London together; Lora Meier experienced Berlin, Germany; Laura Fussell went to Paris; and Sarah Rushing traveled to New Delhi, India.
"We want the students to do something that enriches their lives and their knowledge of a particular author," Gould said.
To prepare for her trip she read Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's "On the Shoulders of Giants." She traced the steps of Langston Hughes, went on a Harlem Heritage tour and stayed at the Sugar Hill Harlem Inn. In addition, she visited spots where the Underground Railroad ran, which was the prime focus of Monjo's story. "After seeing them I could really understand what these places meant to people," she said.
French's traveling was funded by the Wentworth Fellowship. It was named in honor of Michael D. Wentworth, a current English professor; however, it was created by Charles F. Green III. The Fellowship allows its participants to pick a writer or work of literature and travel either in America or abroad to "the stomping grounds of their favorite author; where they lived or where their characters were set," said Green, the benefactor who provides roughly $18,000 annually for the fellowship.
Green is a 1971 UNC-Wilmington graduate who began the fellowship in 2001 to allow students to truly experience their literature. "When you are actually there things are much more grandiose than they appear in books or in pictures," he said. Green has also donated to the Creative Writing and History departments.
Students have traveled to locations associated with Anne Frank, Shakespeare, Flannery O'Connell, Frank McCourt, L.M. Montgomery, Edgar Allan Poe, John Steinbeck, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Jane Austen and Charles Dickens among others.
All English majors or minors are eligible to apply. They must work with a faculty sponsor to fill out an application including a 250 -word essay describing the students proposed journey and a statement of projected expenses and a recommendation from a faculty member. After the application deadline a committee made up of Kathleen Gould, Nick Laudadio, Diana Ashe, Kathy Rugoff and Bill Atwill decide who will be traveling. Within four months of taking their trips the students are required to show a presentation of what they learned. The latest class of fellows presented this past Friday.
This past semester the committee chose nine students to be funded. In addition to French trekking across New York City, Trisha Jones traveled to Salinas and Monterey Calif.; Crystal Tatum went to South Carolina and Richmond, VA.; Sarah Withers experienced Prince Edward Island off the coast of Canada; Bernadette O'Neill traveled abroad to Limerick, Ireland; Emily Wallwork and Naomi Kemper toured London together; Lora Meier experienced Berlin, Germany; Laura Fussell went to Paris; and Sarah Rushing traveled to New Delhi, India.
"We want the students to do something that enriches their lives and their knowledge of a particular author," Gould said.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Joel Bresler
posted 10/03/08 @ 12:39 PM EST
Hi, thanks for your post. I was puzzled by the first paragraph. F.N. Monjo's "The Drinking Gourd" is a fictional work for juveniles about the Underground Railroad. (Continued…)
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