Five Win Coveted Negley
his year, the Negley committee commended the work of five seniors with the Negley Award, a prize for an outstanding History 333 research paper. Seniors Leigh Marie Braswell, Hansen Shi, Rohan Pavuluri, Alice Ju and Alyssa Heinze were this year’s honorees.
Determined by the Negley Committee at the Academy, the five papers were the best representations of the historiography of students that took the Academy’s U.S. History 333 course last year.
The Negley-winning 333 papers from this year’s seniors have been published in a booklet this spring for the community to read. The booklet will also serve as exemplary models for current U.S. history students who are writing papers.
Senior Leigh Marie Braswell discovered her passion for writing history when considering the emotions of the people involved. Furthermore, her interest in scientific discoveries and innovations spurred her to explore the invention of the atomic bomb and the related Manhattan Project. As such, she ended up choosing to write about J. Robert Oppenheimer and General Leslie Groves, both of whom contributed a significant amount to the Manhattan Project and the development of the atomic bomb.
History instructor Kwasi Boadi, Braswell’s History 333 teacher, noted that, along with an interesting topic, the quality of writing is also crucial for distinguishing between a good paper and a Negley-worthy paper.“She met most of the essential determinants,” Boadi said, “including good writing mechanics, placing the aspect of the topic under research in historical context, bringing the characters to life by giving them voice and penetrating their personalities and providing counter-argument if the paper is thesis driven.”
Senior Alice Ju wrote her 333 on the popularly of prescribed anti-anxiety drugs of the mid to late 1900s and how the disproportionate prescriptions of these drugs to women in postwar America revealed and strengthened long-standing prejudices about feminine “insanity.”
Although many U.S. history students can often emphasize how difficult and tiring the writing process of a 333 can be, Ju’s experience with her paper seemed to have been the contrary. “As I spent time researching and writing, I found myself excited to construct my paper and defend my thesis because the scope and topics I discussed were all so interesting to me,” Ju said.
History instructor Molly Mackean Davis identified the characteristics of Ju’s 333 that made it such an excellent paper. “Alice’s paper possessed great fluidity and force, and she did a beautiful job weaving together very different kinds of historical evidence in seamless and insightful ways,” Davis said.
Senior Alyssa Heinze chose to write about the impact of Title IX on women’s sports within a decade. Title IX, part of the Education Amendments of 1972, essentially outlawed discrimination in sports on the basis of sex.
Heinze’s choice of topic also reflected the importance of choosing a topic that sparks the interest of the writer. “I chose to write about women in sport because it is one of the few things I am passionate about. As an athlete myself, I related to my research and found it extremely engaging.”
Motivated by his interest in law and politics, senior Rohan Pavuluri chose to write his paper on the role of religion and politics in the Supreme Court confirmation process of Louis Brandeis, the first Jewish Supreme Court justice. “When choosing a subject, I craved for a topic that connected my two main academic passions: law and politics,” Pavuluri said. “Fortunately, I stumbled upon a book dedicated to the Brandeis Confirmation and realized right away how lucky I had been to randomly find it,” he added.
Ju discussed the significance of spending quality time thinking about and exploring the topic. “I would think about my paper before I went to sleep or in the shower, and let all these ideas—of gender, post-war America, psychiatry, etcetera—simmer. I definitely would not have been able to develop these ideas in a few days, it really took the whole couple weeks we were given for me to write a paper with depth and nuance,” Ju said.
Pavuluri added that the amount of work and late nights associated with the 333 can often result in student frustration. “When I first sat down, I never set out to write a Negley paper. Instead, I promised myself I would write a paper that I could be proud of. Anybody who does this will turn out fine,” he said.
Heinze shared her advice in a few simple remarks. “Write about something you are genuinely interested in,” Heinze said. “Stay organized. And don't give up, even if you get a B- on your first paper.”