Hello Winedale alumni,
Today was UT graduation; I went to three commencement ceremonies and got to see several Shakespeare at Winedale students cross the stage. I am very proud of them, and wanted to share a few things about their accomplishments and plans.
Two of last summer's S@W class were named Dean's Distinguished Graduates of the College of Liberal Arts:
Johnny Meyer (Government Honors/English) won the grand prize ($20,000) at the University Co-op Mitchell Awards for the highest research or creative achievement by a UT undergraduate. Johnny won for his play American Volunteers, based on his experiences as an Army Airborne Ranger in Afghanistan; the play was staged at Austin's Frontera Fest by S@W students last spring. Johnny was one of three graduating seniors recognized by President Bill Powers at the evening commencement ceremony at the Tower. Johnny will be back at Winedale this summer playing Macbeth, after which he will pursue a Ph. D. in Government at UT.
Daniel Friedman graduated with honors in four majors: English, French, Chinese and Plan II. His French and Chinese theses were translations, respectively, of a Jean Giraudoux play and a 2000-year old text that had never before been rendered in English. His English honors/Plan II thesis, on Tom Stoppard, human rights, and political theatre, was selected as a model thesis by Plan II and given honorable mention for the English thesis prize. He also played the lead in American Volunteers, just as Johnny Meyer performed in Daniel's translation, The Trojan War Isn't Happening. Daniel will be working for a human rights law firm beginning this summer, then pursuing a joint law degree and Ph. D. in Asian Studies.
Other Winedale students graduating today:
Alli Hammond (Plan II/English/Spanish), last summer's Beatrice, will be joining Teach For America in Gallup, New Mexico, to teach elementary school for two years. Her thesis is on Shakespeare's lost play Cardenio and the questions surrounding its relation to Lewis Theobald's Double Falsehood.
Ryan Cooper (Plan II/Government Honors/Economics) was recognized for a Plan II model thesis for his work on the constitutional rights of Guantanamo detainees. He will participate in S@W this summer before beginning work for a management consulting firm.
Emilio Banda, who grew up in Mexico and the Rio Grande Valley and only learned English in third grade, now has a degrees in English and Theatre and Dance. He will be back at Winedale for a second summer.
Norma Balli-Borrero, for her Radio-Television-Film honors thesis, made two animated films based on Christina Rossetti's poem "Goblin Market"; she will be doing a film production internship in LA.
Ania Upstill (Anthropology) will be joining Americorps. Josh Keppel (Anthropology) will travel in Spain and Poland. Angela Barratt (Plan II/Anthropology) will work on a farm in New Zealand. Melissa Johnson (English) will do an internship teaching drama to children in Seattle, after spending this summer at Winedale.
I'm sure there are others I'm missing, but anyway, I wanted to congratulate them all.
Thanks, James