Dickinson Celebrates Excellence in First-Year Writing, Research
Class of 2029 award-winners (from left:) Fatou Ndiaye, Ted Tarter and Natalie Massengill. Photo by Dan Loh.
Award-winning papers explore satire, Tolstoy, mythology
by MaryAlice Bitts-Jackson
Students, faculty and staff recently filled the Stafford Reading Room to celebrate three members of Dickinson’s class of 2029. The ceremony honored excellence in writing and research and the ways Dickinsonians begin challenging narratives and sparking scholarly discussion in their very first semester.
The honorees had each written award-winning papers as part of First-Year Seminars (FYS). These courses help first-year students transition to college-level writing and research by strengthening their critical-thinking, research, writing and information-literacy skills and introducing them to campus resources that support academic success.
Natalie Massengill (English) and Ted Tarter received First-Year Excellence in Writing Awards, and Fatou Ndiaye ’29 was awarded the Prize for Excellence in First-Year Research. Together, their projects reflect the wide range of interests of the class of 2029.
War, Peace and a fresh POV
In a much-studied novel often spanning more than 1,400 pages, Massengill found a fresh point of view. Her paper, "Hélène Bezukova as the Extension of the Great Man, in the Shadows of War and Peace," posits that the minor character Hélène serves as the philosophical "other half" of Napoleon, and as a vehicle for Tolstoy’s critique of those who attempt to impose structure on the chaos of history.
Massengill signed up for the First-Year Seminar Tolstoy’s War and Peace because she wanted to zero in one a major work of literature. Her biggest challenge in the class was finding little-explored ground to cover. “It was a bit overwhelming because everyone in the class was writing about War and Peace, and so much has already been written about it,” she says. “So I broke it down into manageable sections, focusing on details."
Two outlines and about six revisions later, she had a winning paper. “I was really surprised to hear I won, because it’s such a niche topic,” she says. “But I feel really proud, because I worked hard on it.”
The high stakes of political comedy
Tarter is passionate about political science, and he enrolled in a FYS called Free Speech and Representation in Stand-Up Comedy. His award-winning paper sounds a call to defend democracy.
In “Seriously Funny: The Role Political Satire Should Play in a Healthy Democracy," Tarter writes that satire is a powerful tool for engagement for young Americans, who consume a great deal of satirical content online. But this content is rarely backed by deeper political involvement. In fact, he argues, political satire can diminish civic engagement, leaving young people “uninformed, detached and cynical.”
The danger lies in "mistaking satire for the politics it aims to make better," Tarter asserts. So while he acknowledges the entertainment value of political satire, he cautions peers that it cannot replace true civic engagement.
Redefining myth through art
Ndiaye dove into art, classical mythology and its modern interpretations in her paper, “Persephone (1): Redefining Myth through Art.”
Long fascinated by classical mythology, Ndiaye signed up for the FYS Persephone and Hades Through the Ages. In her final paper, she argues that female authors have used art as a tool to interpret and reclaim ancient myths.
While excited to learn that she’d earned a prize for her work, Ndiaye is most gratified to know that she has the skills and experience to tackle new academic challenges ahead.
"This experience helped me learn to choose credible sources, and to understand how research databases work," she says, noting that one of her assignment requirements was to select only peer-reviewed sources. "As I advance through Dickinson, I’ll be writing a lot of research papers, so I think this will be really helpful to me."
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Published March 2, 2026