July 17, 2024

For Cate Hettinger’s final project for HNRS 200 – “Should Arenas Go Downtown?”, her class researched politics, case studies and financial figures, and analyzed several perspectives on the issue of the proposed 76ers basketball arena to be built on the edge of Philadelphia’s Chinatown community. The class was then tasked with writing a letter to Mayor Cherelle Parker, advising her on a stance to take when decision time comes.

We cannot ignore the threat to Chinatown just because of the opportunities afforded to one minority group; instead, we should find a way to include opportunities for all groups in a newly imagined Market East where local businesses thrive, housing remains affordable, and educational opportunities increase for all racial and socioeconomic groups," Cate wrote in her letter.

The most challenging thing about the assignment, says Cate, design and merchandising ’27, Honors, was deciding whether or not she should send the letter once she’d completed the work. She’d developed a strong stance on the subject and wanted to support the Philadelphia Asian community in Chinatown. But she questioned, as a white woman from North Carolina, having only just moved to Philly for school, was it her place to speak on behalf of those whose struggles she had only just begun to understand.

Cate’s compelling letter garnered her the 2023-24 Honors Essay Award, though admittedly when professor Alena MacNeal asked her to submit it for consideration, there were several edits she wanted to make to the thoughts and emotions she’d put to paper.

“I’ve realized now that the quality of my writing is not as important to this letter as the content that I delivered in hopes that it might affect real change,” she says.

In the end, Cate did end up mailing the letter.

“I figured that if I wanted to grow as a part of my new community, I would have to put in the effort to understand it and become active within it.”

Harrison Muller, electrical engineering ’25, also received the Honors Essay Award from his HNRS 303 class, Writing History, taught by writer Cordelia Biddle. Harrison was assigned to write a biography about a historical figure or a particular time in history. Harrison chose to write about the Great Arrival – a time when Italian immigration was at its peak and when his own family immigrated from Campania, Italy.

Harrison found it particularly challenging to condense so much information into what turned into a 33-page story. He not only wanted to inform others about the Great Arrival, but he wanted to do this through the experience of a single family’s journey from humble beginnings to successful New York citizens.

“This award has inspired me to keep writing in the future, and to hone my skills to create truly beautiful tales,” says Harrison.