A few lucky Penn State Brandywine students had their essays chosen for publication in the University-wide annual journal Best of Freshman Writing. Myra Goldschmidt, associate professor of English and linguistics at the campus, submitted the essays for consideration.
"There is nothing as gratifying as being able to tell students they are being published, especially a freshman," Goldschmidt stated.
Among the best of the freshman writers are Xiao Tan, Wendy Fan, Susan Ator and Sarah DeMartino.
"With every student there is a story," Goldschmidt said. "Xiao was very unsure about writing, but by the end of the semester she wrote a beautiful essay."
Tan is a second year student from China. She chose to write her essay on the popular Chinese television show "China's Got Talent." Tan admits that she had been following the program on the Internet, but she "never thought [her essay] would be published. When I was in China, I was a really good writer." However, Tan found the language barrier difficult to overcome. "The Writing Studio really helped me develop," she said.
Each year, English professors from Penn State's 19 campuses are on the lookout for exceptional essays from their freshman English classes they deem worthy of publication. At the end of the academic year the best of the best are submitted to the journal's editorial board, which decides which essays will make it to publication. The journal is often used as a classroom textbook in many English classes at Penn State; the essays serve as writing models for students in the freshman courses.