From Peninsula College Student Spotlight

www.pc.ctc.edu

Gwuinifer Carradine of Sequim has been selected by the Peninsula College English department as the winner of the Outstanding English Essay Award for 2011. The award is being given for the first time this year.

Carradine’s winning essay, “Blue Highways: The River’s Role in Literature,” was written for Dr. Janet Lucas’ English 245: American Literature II class during winter quarter 2011.

After being notified that she had won the award, Carradine said, “As a working mother and nontraditional student, I’ve found the availability of online classes (such as Lucas’ ENGL 245) to be a huge convenience; I would not have been able to return to college without them.

“In Dr. Lucas’ class, we explored American literature from the colonial era through the present, with an emphasis on environmental and nature writing. Dr. Lucas invited Dr. (Daniel) Underwood, a P.C. ecologist and economist, to share with our class via web conferences; he offered a vibrant scientific counterpoint to some of the more subjective pieces on which we’d been focused.”

Carradine’s essay was selected from among the top essays written in composition and literature classes this year. Each essay was nominated by a P.C. English faculty member. The essays, with the authors’ names removed, were judged by the English faculty on analytical depth, development and organization of ideas and writing style.

Carradine received the Outstanding English Essay Award at the June 14 board of trustees meeting. It includes a certificate and $100, money donated to the PC Foundation for use by the English department.

Carradine was born in Northridge, Calif., near Los Angeles, and moved to the Olympic Peninsula with her husband 11 years ago. They have lived in Sequim for the past four years.