Hathaway Brown is pleased to announce that senior McKenna Ritter, 18, of Aurora, has been awarded the Thomas Wolfe Scholarship from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This prestigious honor has been given for the last 15 years to one incoming freshman at UNC who has demonstrated promise in creative writing. Akin to the university's Morehead-Cain Scholarship, the Thomas Wolfe Scholarship includes four years of full undergraduate support. Additionally, the award allows for stipends for travel and completing writing projects.
McKenna, who serves as an editor for HB's arts and literary journal, Retrospect, is a gifted writer who has earned several accolades in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards program during her time in high school. To be considered for the Thomas Wolfe Scholarship, she was required to submit a 50-page portfolio of her work and complete a 500-word "Why I Write" essay. She was selected from among three finalists after an in-person interview process at UNC. This is the second year in a row that an HB student has been interviewed for this scholarship, as Becca Lambright '15 was a finalist last year.
The Thomas Wolfe Scholarship was conceived and endowed by the late Frank B. Hanes of Winston-Salem, NC. As a Thomas Wolfe Scholar, McKenna will either major or minor in creative writing at UNC when she enrolls there this fall.
To learn more about the Thomas Wolfe Scholarship program, please visit the official website for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Department of English & Comparative Literature. Congratulations, McKenna!