SEMO SPONSORS 125TH ANNIVERSARY ESSAY CONTEST

To celebrate its 125th anniversary, Southeast Missouri State University is sponsoring an essay contest patterned after one that was done in 1874 at the close of the first school year.

The topics for the contest will be "The Power of Trifles," "School Days," "Celebrated Rivers," "Paddle Your Own Canoe," and "Cape Girardeau in 2025."

The topics are the same as those used in 1874, except for the last one. The original essay contest included the topic, "Cape Girardeau in 1900."

Normal School students who presented those first essays included Belle Green, Mollie Holmes, Charles K. Hayden, Elizabeth Hines and George Kenrick.

Jim Biundo, assistant to the president for university relations, chairs Southeast's anniversary committee.

"We would love to have relatives or ancestors of any of the students who recited their essays in 1874 to be present for the revised essays of 1999," Biundo said.

The winners of the essay contest will be recognized in a ceremony on April 8. First-prize winning essays will be read at the event. They also will be published in Journey, the school's literary magazine.

The contest will have three categories. Cash awards of $100 for first place and $50 for each of two honorable mentions will be given in each of the categories. The categories are student, community member/alumnus and faculty/staff.

Essay rules are outlined in an application form available from the university relations office at 603 N. Henderson, the English department office in Grauel Room 301, the president's office in Academic Hall and the Student Government office in the University Center.

Essays must be between 750 and 1,000 words, typed, double spaced, and submitted no later than Feb. 15. Winners will be notified in March.

Judges for the contest will be Dr. Jennie Cooper, Dr. Dale Haskell and Dr. Susan Swartout of the university's English department.

Southeast, then the Normal School, opened Dec. 10, 1873. Ten students, mostly from Cape Girardeau, were enrolled. The number of students grew to 57 before the close of the school year.

The closing ceremonies for the end of the school year were held June 25, 1874 in Turner's Hall in Cape Girardeau. Turner's Hall, currently the Royal N'Orleans Restaurant, also was known as The Old Opera House.

The closing ceremonies for the school year included musical numbers, orations and essays, Biundo said.

Southeast plans to recreate the closing ceremonies on June 25, 1999 at the N'Orleans Restaurant.