{"id":396,"date":"2012-10-22T09:01:46","date_gmt":"2012-10-22T16:01:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/uhdsnews\/?p=396"},"modified":"2012-10-22T09:02:14","modified_gmt":"2012-10-22T16:02:14","slug":"396","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/uhdsnews\/2012\/10\/22\/396\/","title":{"rendered":"Daily Barometer: Van Winkle develops voice, gravitas in her writing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0UHDS’ Katie Van Winkle, an assistant coordinator for room management, was<\/em>\u00a0featured in a front page article in OSU’s student newspaper (The Daily Barometer) on Thursday, Oct. 18.<\/em><\/p>\n

[The Daily Barometer<\/a>, Oct. 18, 2012] —\u00a0Just four minutes before the deadline Katie Van Winkle hit submit, entering her piece, titled \u201cSpeak Up,\u201d into the Muhammad Ali Writing Award on Ethics competition. Little did she know the 10-page narrative that took her only three hours to write would become a finalist and receive an honorable mention in the\u00a0Sala\u00a0Kryszek\u00a0Writing and Art Competition.
\nA self-professed \u201cshy writer,\u201d Van Winkle began to develop her voice and writing style in the seventh grade when her English teacher, now mentor, Charles Sanderson, took notice of her special talent. He encouraged and pushed her to enter writing pieces into state and national writing competitions.<\/p>\n

\u201cSanderson made me more willing to experiment with my writing,\u201d Van Winkle said.<\/p>\n

Last spring, it was Sanderson who gave Van Winkle the information about a writing contest sponsored by the Muhammad Ali Center. This national writing competition is held annually and offers awards to college students who honor and uphold Muhammad Ali\u2019s legacy of living a life dedicated to high ethical standards.<\/p>\n

Among the judges for this contest was\u00a0Elie\u00a0Wiesel. Esteemed author and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Wiesel has made a huge impact on Katie\u2019s life. After reading \u201cNight,\u201d Wiesel\u2019s memoir about his experience during the Holocaust, Van Winkle began to understand the impact that stories and writing can have on others.<\/p>\n

Van Winkle cherishes the opportunity to be judged by Wiesel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel really honored, he spoke up for his experiences and what he believes in,\u201d Van Winkle said. \u201cI read \u2018Night,\u2019 in high school and learned so much from it. I feel humbled and honored. I\u2019d [like to] ask him about courage, about the importance of speaking up for the things that you believe in.\u201d<\/p>\n

This competition and experience has given her confidence in her writing and in the knowledge she can make a difference with her words.<\/p>\n

Van Winkle has made a difference. When she received news from Sanderson that the book, \u201cThe House on Mango Street,\u201d by Sandra Cisneros, was going to be pulled from her old school\u2019s approved book list because it was considered to contain inappropriate content and language, she jumped into action.<\/p>\n

She wrote an essay titled \u201cSaving Mango Street,\u201d which was published in the magazine \u201cRethinking Schools,\u201d that then launched a letter writing campaign on Facebook. Van Winkle testified to the school board. Her efforts were successful. Van Winkle was able to help save the book that Sanderson had taught to her class years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201c[It] allowed the opportunity for valuable teaching moments about domestic abuse, violence against women and speaking out,\u201d Van Winkle said.<\/p>\n

Her winning essay \u2014 \u201cSpeak Out\u201d \u2014 was a narrative tying together her personal experience with sexual abuse, her involvement with CARDVA (Center Against Rape & Domestic Violence) and her efforts to save \u201cThe House on Mango Street.\u201d This ethics essay on women\u2019s violence held a powerful message about speaking up and standing strong.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t talk about it, people don\u2019t know and can\u2019t help,\u201d Van Winkle said. \u201cI don\u2019t want people to feel like it\u2019s their fault or that they can\u2019t talk about it or that they are alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking to the future, Van Winkle says that she wants to become a counselor and to work with women and children who have been affected by domestic violence. She plans to continue to express herself and to communicate through writing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is easier to communicate through writing verses statistics or numbers; writing really gets people to think [about] things or to change or to react,\u201d Van Winkle said.<\/p>\n

Those who have a story to tell, need someone to talk to or have experienced sexual abuse can contact CARDVA or CAPS (Counseling and Psychological Services).<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically, everybody has a story,\u201d Van Winkle said.<\/p>\n

Read the original story<\/a> by reporter\u00a0Brytann Busick.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0UHDS’ Katie Van Winkle, an assistant coordinator for room management, was\u00a0featured in a front page article in OSU’s student newspaper (The Daily Barometer) on Thursday, Oct. 18. [The Daily Barometer, Oct. 18, 2012] —\u00a0Just four minutes before the deadline Katie Van Winkle hit submit, entering her piece, titled \u201cSpeak Up,\u201d into the Muhammad Ali Writing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3243,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[186258],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-housing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/uhdsnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/uhdsnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/uhdsnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/uhdsnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3243"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/uhdsnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/uhdsnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":399,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/uhdsnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396\/revisions\/399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/uhdsnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/uhdsnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/uhdsnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}