“Do you want fries with that?” is the Achilles heel of all English majors. Finding a worthwhile job with an English major can be challenging, but the Gilbert Award is helping Guilford English majors find good careesr.
On Oct. 4, last year’s Gilbert Award recipients attracted 20 people to the Community Center. The recipients told stories about their adventures. The six winners had a wide variety of individual experiences, ranging from reading a scholarly paper in Utah to teaching English in the Himalayas.
The Gilbert Award is an annual award given to the English department by Guilford alumnus Jeanne Campbell. The award is named after Dorothy Lloyd Gilbert, an English professor from the early half of the 20th century.
The award is worth $25,000, which is divided among the winners. The applicants must be rising seniors or soon-to-be graduates. The award is aimed at helping the recipients decide what they want to do with their English degree.
Charlie McAlpin ’06 used his award to fund a trip to Utah to read his paper at a literary conference this past March.
Allison Brown, a senior, spent six weeks this past summer at a Mohegan archeological dig in Connecticut. Brown viewed archeology as literary analysis with “every artifact being a primary source.” One day, Brown was walking by a stream and happened to find a 5,000-year-old arrowhead.
Rachael Marks, a senior, used her award money to travel to Palestine with Max Carter for two weeks and work with non-governmental organizations. Marks learned that “I don’t need highpressure showers,” and is now looking to help other non-governmental organizations around the world.
Renee Poudrier ’06 discovered that there was not much literature about parents who adopt children, so she decided to help. Poudrier was so devoted to her task that she started writing “even before I knew the Gilbert Award existed.” She used her award money to support herself while researching and writing for Pathways Home, an organization in California that helps parents who adopt.
Matt Haselton, a senior, used his award money to live in California for the summer while working on preproduction for his movie. “I was really excited to pay rent,” Haselton said. He spent the summer revising movie scripts while living on his own.
Laurie Henninger, another senior, traveled to India to teach English for two months. “The challenges only made it better,” Henninger said. She taught English to residents in a small, one-street village in the Himalayas with a group of Europeans.
The Gilbert Award is given to a different number of people every year. Heather Hayton, assistant professor of English and the Gilbert Award director, said, “Last year, four summer awards (for rising seniors) and five post-grad awards were made; the previous years, only one award was given.” The award applications are judged by the English department in a blind review. This means that English advisors cannot help advisees with writing or editing their applications.
English studies can be a tough field to break into. “I looked for five months before I found a job,” said Jim Hood, associate professor of English. But an English degree can lead to a wide array of different careers. The Gilbert Award helped last year’s recipients find what direction they want to take at this stage in their lives.
“Save the world,” Marks said without flinching in response to a question about her goal with her English degree. Haselton discovered that he did not want to become a film-maker. “It’s too rigid as an industry,” Haselton said. Poudrier knows she wants to become a free-lance writer. Brown knows she “wants a job with a community I’m supporting.” McAlpin, commenting on subsequent experience in the “real” world, said, “I want to get back into the fake world of academia by applying to graduate school.