Welcome to the fifth annual Celebration of Student Writing at Indiana University East!

In this book, you will find lots of student writers, from first-year students working in general education courses to graduate students pursuing specialized degrees. You will find many types of writing as well, including literary analyses, investment reports, magazine articles, personal essays, and researched arguments. Across the disciplines, students are writing about topics they care about, ranging from the role of female officers in policing to an analysis of stylistic tricks in a passage from The House on Mango Street.  This collection celebrates writing across the disciplines.

Faculty from sociology, business, English, communications, criminal justice, and education nominated over 120 students for this event. As you read the introductions to the student writing in this book, you’ll see the enthusiasm for the student work. They write that it is “outstanding in both content and style,” “a demonstration of real intellectual curiosity, “brilliant,” and “fun.” Faculty also see and acknowledge students working through difficulty to produce academic writing, such as one faculty member who noted that a piece was “well done under difficulty circumstances.” This collection celebrates the connections between teachers and students. This collection celebrates student engagement and persistence.  

I am thrilled to also celebrate Dr. Perri Klass, who offered a keynote address to commemorate this occasion. A Professor of Journalism and Pediatrics at New York University and a former columnist for The New York Times, Dr. Klass’s latest book, titled A Good Time to Be Born,  is an account of how victories over infant and child mortality have changed the world. This message of hope and progress is needed now more than ever, and I am thrilled that Dr. Klass can share with our community what she learned through writing this book, as well as the value of writing itself. This collection celebrates hope.

I’ll conclude with words from Laura Urbin, whose paper “You as a Writer” is the final entry in this collection. She writes: “I would like to recommend to all the writers to take your time, and most importantly if you are stuck, just take 5 minutes and write whatever comes to mind. . . . If that doesn’t work, just think about it as you lie in bed waiting to fall asleep.” To all you students, keep on writing—and enjoy this book! This collection celebrates you.

Many thanks to Dean Daren Snider of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, who has believed in this event from the beginning and continues to support it in a big way. Thanks to Dean Karen Clark of the School of Nursing, who helped to bring Dr. Klass to campus. Thanks to Professor Carolyn Judd and her L230 nursing students, without whom this version of this event wouldn’t exist. Thanks fellow editor, Kristie Marcum, and to the many people who helped edit this text, including Rena Holcomb, Jackie Kauza, Lisa Marling, Tanya Perkins, and Angie Smibert. Thanks to the marketing and events team. And thanks most of all to the students who continue to write for us, every day, and who make this community possible.