OCTC Celebrates Strong Participation in Spring 2025 Common Reading Program and "This I Believe" Essay Contest

by Katie Powers

Owensboro, KY (05/01/2025) — Owensboro Community & Technical College (OCTC) wrapped up another impactful semester of its Common Reading program, with high attendance at each of the four writing workshops and substantial participation in the student essay writing contest.

This spring's program centered around This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women, an anthology that inspired students, faculty, and community members to explore their own core values through writing. Each workshop reached capacity, as participants worked with acclaimed regional authors including Amy Bellamy, Greta McDonough, George Ella Lyon, and Frank X Walker to develop personal narratives rooted in identity, memory, and belief.

The accompanying "This I Believe" essay contest drew 30 compelling entries. Submissions reflected a wide range of topics, including kindness, grief, friendship, faith, resilience, and cultural identity. OCTC English faculty, who served as judges, noted the exceptional quality and heartfelt honesty of the essays, making the final selection process especially difficult.

The 2025 winners are:

1st Place - Cheyenne Marshall, "The Cheesecake, The Cure""The right remedy will always be togetherness, love, and cheesecake."

2nd Place - Laura Atkinson Ramburger, "Reading the Write Way""Annotation is like building a friendship."

3rd Place - Jasmine Maddox, "The Trickle-Down Effect""It is not a waste to show kindness."

Honorable mentions were awarded to:

Rebecca Condor - "The Power of Small Kindness"

Sui Tha Par - "The Mystery of My Wonders"

Matthew Boarman - "I Believe I Know Nothing"

Winning essays and honorable mentions will be featured in the Spring 2025 edition of Skylark, OCTC's student literary and arts journal. Copies will be available after the Skylark reception on April 15, where contest winners will also be recognized.

With appreciation from the contest judges: Matt Branham, Gary Crump, Molly Gibson, Jessica Hodges, Becky Hodskins, Tonya Northenor, Meredith Skaggs, Susan Swanson.

This semester's Common Reading program was coordinated by OCTC English faculty and supported by the OCTC Foundation. For more about the program and to read winning essays, visit: https://owensboro.kctcs.edu/about/student-life/common-reading/index.aspx. You may also contact the Common Reading Program Co-Chairs, English Professors, Kaye Brown and Tonya Northenor at kaye.brown@kctcs.edu and tonya.northenor@kctcs.edu.

Owensboro Community & Technical College is one of the sixteen community and technical colleges that make up the Kentucky Community & Technical College System. OCTC serves the KY counties of Daviess, Hancock, Ohio and McLean. OCTC has three campuses in Daviess County and a Center and Annex in Hancock County. OCTC strives to serve the communities in the service area by providing associate degree education for transfer, state of the art technical education for students focusing on entering the workforce, customized business and industry solutions through the Workforce Solutions division, and adult education and business and industry testing through the SkillTrain unit.

The Kentucky Community and Technical College System is the Commonwealth's largest postsecondary institution with 16 colleges and more than 70 campuses. We also are Kentucky's largest provider of workforce training and online education. Through partnerships with business and industry, we align our programs to meet the needs of local employers. We help students fulfill their dreams of creating a better life through programs that lead directly to jobs or help them transfer to one of our four-year partners.

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