Ripon College Days

Kristen McCullough of Woodstock, Ill., John Meulendyke of Milwaukee, Wis., and Alice Friend of Ojai, Calif., took first, second and third, respectively. Ripon College has taken the top three places, four of the last five years.

McCullough, a double major in English and communication and German minor, received top honors from the WCA for her paper "She Could Recommend the Telephone Book, and Somebody Would Read it: Oprah Winfrey as the Agent of Enlightenment." The paper was an analysis of the rhetoric of Winfrey's book club, and how and why it has become so popular and influential.

Meulendyke, a double major in communication and religion with a minor in secondary education, presented "Billy Graham's Struggle." The paper offers an analysis of the rhetorical imprint of Graham, in which Graham suggests the struggle with one's faith can only be won with the help of the Lord.

Friend, a double major in communication and Spanish, presented "The Rhetoric of Corporate Weight Loss Programs: A Narrative Analysis of Success Stories." The paper explains research done about the rhetoric of corporate weight lost programs, such as Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, and Atkins. After looking at numerous success stories, Friend suggests that these companies attempt to manipulate people into believing that they are not in control of their own life until they have lost weight and are thin, and until then they are not capable of fulfilling their potential as humans.

McCullough, Meulendyke, Friend, and fellow senior Jeff Lewis of Clinton, Miss., also had their papers invited for presentation at the DePauw University National Undergraduate Honors Conference in Communication.

McCullough was also invited to present a paper to the Southern States Communication Conference in Tampa, Fla.

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