Exceptional

First-Year Writing

The Rutgers Writing Centers’ Exceptional First-Year Writing initiative spotlights outstanding reflective essays written for College Writing, the University’s first-year writing course. Essays are developed in response to the first project of the course, which asks students to read as writers - to demonstrate an understanding of the form and rhetorical strategies of an assigned text, Jhumpa Lahiri’s “Why Italian?” - then apply these strategies toward their own personal reflection.

2023-2024 Nominees

Samad Arastu
Ashley Arkais
Minahal Azhar
Vivian Cheng
Bailley Georgieva
Jose Jimenez Gratereaux
Charlie Heap

Ariel Ifrah
Sarah Jung
Matthew Kalender
Aileen Lim
Joshua Mariano
Peter Palles
Ruqayya Pervez

Amisha Raikar
Colin Scerbo
Brynn Sillick
Brandon Son
Amy Walejewsky
Sophia Wyllie
Adams Yakubu

Saber Chen Saber Chen

Why Paper Books?

Fingers as a medium became a data line, connecting my brain to the paper, and words became data transferred to my body.

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Past Nominees

2022-2023

Fatema Agami • Mimi Ali • Leora Benson
Pranav Chandra • Saber Chen • Jenna Chen
Emily Cortes • Alana Healy • Joelle Montillo
Tomi Rosiji • Mariam Saad • Ashley Sanchez
Eva Scioscia • Jason Sipiran • Mabel Yuen