Three students who participated in Hope College's 1997 Vienna Summer School have been named winners in the 16th annual Howard Plaggemars Essay Competition.

Three students who participated in Hope College's 1997 Vienna Summer School have been named winners in the 16th annual Howard Plaggemars Essay Competition.

          The winners are:  first place, James Hilmert, a
  Hope College junior from Fort Wayne, Ind.; second place,
  Kristin Zimdahl, a Hope College senior from Elgin, Ill.; and
  third place, Christopher Vande Kieft, a Wayne State
  University junior from Livonia.
          All entries responded to some aspect of each
  student's experiences in Europe this past summer under the
  guidance of Dr. Stephen I. Hemenway, who has been the
  director of the Vienna Summer School program for 22 years
  and is a professor of English at Hope.  The donor of the
  prizes, Howard Plaggemars of Holland, is a 1960 and 1961
  alumnus of the Vienna Summer School, as well as a 1960 Hope
  graduate.
          Hilmert, who is majoring in philosophy and
  history, received his award for the personal essay
  "Reflections on Vienna," which deals with humorous barriers
  he encountered during this past summer in Austria.  Zimdahl,
  a biology and English major, received her award for "Dreams
  Come True," an account of how Vienna became her new home.
  Vande Kieft, who is majoring in radio, television and film,
  received his award for a poem, "U-Bahn."
          Three Vienna Summer School graduates, all of whom
  are previous winners in the Plaggemars Essay Competition,
  served as judges:  Rebecca Russcher, a 1996 Hope graduate
  who is a research scholar in history from Fennville; Tom
  Bamborough, a 1983 Hope graduate who is principal of
  Bamborough Print Communication in Ada; and Elizabeth
  Trembley, a 1985 Hope graduate who is head of academics at
  Davenport College in Holland and author of a recent study of
  Michael Crichton's works.
          The prizes included cash awards of $100, $50 and
  $25 for first, second and third place respectively.
          Since the Vienna Summer School's founding in 1956
  by Dr. Paul G. Fried, approximately 2,000 students from more
  than 175 colleges and universities have discovered how
  summer study in Vienna can provide them with a meaningful
  introduction to the rich heritage of European civilization.
          Consisting of two consecutive three-week sessions,
  the program offers students a choice of work in art history,
  communication, economics, Austrian history, music history,
  German and Austrian literature, Eastern European literature
  and a senior seminar, all taught in English, as well as
  courses in German language, taught in German.  Students are
  housed with Austrian families, and are free to plan their
  leisure time and take weekend excursions led by Hemenway to
  places like Salzburg, Venice, Budapest, Prague and the
  Austrian Alps.