Celebrating the Freshman Experience of ACES James Scholar Women
Photo of Carol Andreae Haynes, taken circa 1910. This young lady grew up to become the first woman on her family tree to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. (Photo appears courtesy of the award donor's family.)
The
ACES James Scholar Honors Program is pleased to announce the fifth
annual Carol Andreae Haynes Sophomore Achievement Award competition.
Essays may be submitted by sophomore ACES James Scholar women to the
ACES Student Development & Career Services Office in 115 ACES
Library before 5:00 PM on Monday, October 20, 2008
Biographical Sketch of Carol Andreae Haynes (1901-1990)
Carol Andreae Haynes was born into a Kentucky family of German descent with strong ties to agriculture. She grew up in Evansville, Indiana and on the family farmlands near Reed, Kentucky. She earned her A.A. and B.A. degrees in art (painting) at Logan College in Kentucky and Howard College in Tennessee, respectively. She also played on Howard College's women's basketball team and performed a vocal solo at her Commencement ceremony. As a college graduate, she became a pioneer and role model for all other women in her extended family who have earned college degrees ever since.
Following her marriage to Leander James McCormick Haynes (1898-1968), she became actively involved with community service in Evansville, Indiana. While raising a family of five daughters – all of whom attended Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri – she volunteered with local philanthropic organizations for over a quarter-century, especially the American Red Cross. Mrs. Haynes bequeathed to her descendants a wealth of oral family history that is still alive and well in their hearts and minds to this day. To those who cherish her memory, she epitomizes the title character that is eulogized in Hans Christian Andersen's classic faery tale, Grandmother (1845). Her philosophy of life can be summed up in this passage from one of her all-time favorite books:
"Everything perishes except the world itself and its keepers. But while life lasts, everything on earth has its use. The wise seek ways to be helpful to the world ... Yet every man has his mission, which is to leave the world better, in some way, than he found it."
-- L. Frank Baum: The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (Book I, Chapters 6 & 7)
Sophomore Achievement Award Description
Adapted from Chapter VI, Section 6 of Enchiridion Honorum: The ACES Honors Handbook
The Carol Andreae Haynes Sophomore Achievement Award celebrates the academic achievements of sophomore ACES James Scholar women. This prize was created in honor of Carol Andreae Haynes (1901-1990), the donor's maternal grandmother, who is the first woman in the donor's family tree known to have earned a Bachelor's degree. As such, she became a pioneer and role model for all other women in her extended family who have earned college degrees ever since. This annual award has been established to:
- Encourage eligible candidates to reflect in a meaningful way on their experiences as ACES freshmen and share their experiences with others.
- Cultivate and reward the craft of insightful writing by the pioneering women who will fill leadership roles in the interdisciplinary world of tomorrow.
The Carol Andreae Haynes Sophomore Achievement Award is conferred in the fall semester of each academic year. Eligible candidates for the award must be sophomore women currently enrolled in the ACES James Scholar Honors Program, and they must have completed two full semesters of coursework at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Each of the eligible candidates is invited to write an original essay of between 500 and 1000 words on the following theme: The Most Valuable Things That I Learned as a Freshman in the College of ACES. The essay should be typed on 8-1/2” x 11” paper and double-spaced in a standard 12-point font.
These essays must be submitted by the specified deadline (in mid-October) to ACES Student Development & Career Services in 115 ACES Library. The names of the writers are concealed, and numbers are assigned to each essay to ensure an impartial evaluation by the judging committee. The essays are evaluated based on their exposition of valuable life lessons that the writers have learned as freshmen at the University of Illinois. The winner of the essay competition will receive a scholarship prize and a copy of L. Frank Baum's classic fantasy novel, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (1902), which was one of Mrs. Haynes' favorite books during her childhood days.
The essay competition is announced annually in September via a targeted emailing to all eligible candidates; in the Honors Program's monthly newsletter, Cursus Honorum; and on this website. The essays are evaluated after the mid-October deadline, and the presentation of the award to the recipient takes place before the end of the fall semester.
Carol Andreae Haynes Sophomore Achievement Award Winners and Their Essays: 2004-Present
- 2004 Winning Essay by Meg Dill (PDF)
- 2005 Winning Essay by Jessica Anderson (PDF)
- 2006 Winning Essay by Melissa McEwen (PDF)
- 2007 Winning Essay by Andrea Jakubas (PDF)
L. Frank Baum (1856-1919) was the author of the "Oz" series of books and other classic works of children's literature, including The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. He was one of Carol Andreae Haynes' favorite authors. (Photo Credit: Public Domain)
“It is true that great warriors and mighty kings and clever scholars of that day were often spoken of by the people; but no one of them was so greatly beloved as Santa Claus, because none other was so unselfish as to devote himself to making others happy. For a generous deed lives longer than a great battle or a king's decree or a scholar's essay, because it spreads and leaves its mark on all nature and endures through many generations.”
-- L. Frank Baum: The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (Book II, Chapter 11)