home Gateway Carousel Friends of the University of Missouri Libraries Announces Winners of the 2025 Robert J. Stuckey Essay Contest

Friends of the University of Missouri Libraries Announces Winners of the 2025 Robert J. Stuckey Essay Contest

The Friends of the University of Missouri Libraries is proud to announce the winners of the 2025 Robert J. Stuckey Essay Contest. The first-place winner will be awarded a $2,000 scholarship, and the second-place winner will be awarded a $1,000 scholarship. Honorable mentions receive $100 each.
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The first-place winner is Josey Whitaker of Harrisburg R-VIII in Harrisburg, for her essay entitled “The Narrative on Life.” The second-place winner is Maggie Cima of Visitation Academy in St. Louis, for her essay entitled “A Planet of Our Own.” Each teacher of these students, Jennie Simpson and Susan Shortt, will also receive a $250 award.

Honorable Mentions in this year’s contest include John Yu’s essay, “From Big Cats to Bigger Questions,” and Sonia Kulkarni’s “Death by a Word.” Yu is a student at Rock Bridge High School in Columbia, and Kulkarni attends John Burroughs High School in Town & Country.

Each year, the essay contest is open to Missouri High School students in grades 9-12, and only one entry is accepted from each school. Each entry must address one or more aspects of books or reading. Common student topics for essays include literary analyses, accounts of personal experiences, and fictional short stories. Each essay should be originally composed by the student without assistance and should not have been submitted to any previous contest or have been previously published.

The Friends of the Libraries have been affiliated with the University Libraries and the University of Missouri since 1960. The Friends have administered the Robert J. Stuckey Essay Contest for the University for the past several years. The late Robert J. Stuckey was a member of the 1963 junior class of Farmington High School and had planned to attend college. He was vitally interested in current events and enjoyed reading. This annual contest is presented in memory of him.

Thank you to this year’s Stuckey Essay judges, who are all a part of our Friends of the University of Missouri Libraries council. Judges Steve Weinberg, Anne Edwards, Jody Feldman, Katie Harris, and Laurie Tourtellot had their work cut out for them with 17 great essay submissions.

home Gateway Carousel, Resources and Services Welcome to the Mizzou Libraries

Welcome to the Mizzou Libraries

Welcome Tigers! We hope you have a great Summer Welcome experience! We’re so glad you’ll be joining us in the fall and want to introduce you to the library resources and services that will be vital to your success at Mizzou.

Have a great summer, and we will see you in August!

home Cycle of Success, Gateway Carousel Welcome to Jennifer Brady

Welcome to Jennifer Brady

The Mizzou Libraries are pleased to welcome Jennifer Brady as head of the Zalk Veterinary Medical Library.

Born and raised in Springfield, Missouri, Jennifer brings a deep passion for education, literacy and community service. She holds an Ed.D. in Instructional Leadership with an emphasis in Higher Education Administration and Instructional Design from Lindenwood University. Her dissertation, “Embedded Librarians and Student Success in Graduate Nursing Programs,” reflects her commitment to student achievement and academic support.

She also holds a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Washington iSchool and a B.S.E.d. in Secondary English Education from Missouri State University.

Jennifer has worked in both public and academic libraries since 2014, but her love of libraries began even earlier. As a high school student, she launched her first library as part of her Girl Scout Gold Award project—a GED study center and library housed in the Missouri Hotel, a homeless shelter in Springfield. This project served the community for several years until the facility’s closure.

We are thrilled to have Jennifer. Please join us in giving her a warm welcome!

home Gateway Carousel, Workshops Library Resources for Graduate Students Online Workshops

Library Resources for Graduate Students Online Workshops

REGISTER

New to Mizzou as a grad student? Join us for a webinar where we will discuss:

  1. Accessing academic research
  2. Where to find subject specific help
  3. Grad student specific tools available through the libraries

Mizzou Libraries and Librarians are here to help you navigate this new stage in your research journey!

Workshops are offered on June 10, June 12, July 15 and July 17. Register here.