How do writers capture the rhythms of a city?
For the George Washington University students who participated in the University Writing Program’s Julian Clement Chase Prize, telling D.C.’s story meant celebrating the culinary traditions of its Ethiopian community. Or revitalizing a weathered Georgetown cemetery. Or bringing the joy of art to dementia sufferers at a Thomas Circle senior facility.
Those were among the award-winning topics presented at the Chase Prize ceremony on Oct. 22. The prizes, hosted in collaboration with the English Department’s Creative Writing Program and the Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service, recognize undergraduates who create works of art and activism that promote the vitality of Washington, D.C. They were established to memorialize Marine Sgt. Julian Clement Chase, a District native killed in Afghanistan in 2012—just days before he was scheduled to end his tour of duty and enroll at GW.
“These prizes honor [Chase] and carry forward his delight, curiosity and love for the city of D.C.,” said Associate Professor of Writing Phyllis Ryder, chair of the prize committee.
Speaking before an audience that included Chase’s family members alongside President Ellen M. Granberg and Paul Wahlbeck, dean of the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences (CCAS), Ryder praised the students’ enthusiasm and engagement with D.C.
“Their work exemplifies a core value of this university: that we learn not just in classrooms, but by exploring listening and collaborating with leaders and communities,” she said, “that we learn by immersing ourselves in a place…that is alive with the energy of a diverse, engaged democracy.”
The three student winners, each of whom received a $2,000 award, were Sabrina Yeh, a CCAS senior psychology major who founded the student-run Dementia Art Therapy Alliance at GW; Chrestiane Tekola, a sophomore at the Milken Institute School of Public Health, whose essay traced the cultural landscape of D.C.’s Ethiopian-owned markets; and former international affairs major Quinn Giordano, B.A. ’26, who wrote about a longstanding drum circle at Malcolm X Park.
Maurice Brown, a senior journalism major at the CCAS School of Media and Public Affairs (SMPA), was also featured for his honorable mention-winning submission on community efforts to restore the long-neglected Mount Zion Cemetery in Georgetown.
Calling the prizes a reflection of “the spirit and the character of GW,” Granberg highlighted how the initiative embodies GW’s connection to the city. “Since 2016, these prizes have inspired students and faculty to discover and embrace the District as part of a GW classroom,” she said.
“The life he intended”
After the GW Navy ROTC Color Guard led the ceremony’s opening procession and the GW Saxophone Quartet played the national anthem, Chase’s mother, Bell Julian Clement, shared memories of her son—a joyful young man who, she said, “lived fully the life he intended.”
A self-described “city kid,” Chase relished exploring D.C. landmarks, from Rock Creek Park to Ben’s Chili Bowl, she said. When family members tried to dissuade him from enlisting in the military, Chase replied, “Someone’s son has got to do it.”
During his second tour of duty, Chase applied to GW—“his dream school,” as his mother put it—and eagerly anticipated enrolling as a first-year when he returned.
On Memorial Day, May 28, 2012, two months to the day after his 22nd birthday, Chase was shot and killed during a morning patrol in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand Province.
The award, which Chase’s family founded, “was never about mourning or grieving,” his mother stressed. Instead, she likened the student writers to Chase and his fellow soldiers who “went out to walk the line.”
“Like writers confronting their questions, he was absolutely at risk, and like those writers he was free,” she said. “Thank you to writers who expand the world.”
Speaking by video, U.S. Army Lt. Timothy Clements recounted how his cousin Chase’s commitment to military service inspired him to follow a similar path. Chase’s ambition was to “be part of something bigger than yourself,” he said, “something that, when you go home, you’re not just leaving a job, you’re leaving a profession…that serves a higher calling.”
Keynote speaker and author Maria Rana, a National Book Award finalist, praised the student writers for bringing Chase’s beloved hometown to life in their work. “The heart of a city is not a location. It is a pulse, and it takes a writer to find it,” she said.
City stories
Appearing by video, Giordano introduced his essay “More Than Just Drums,” the winner of the Chase Prize for Creative Writing in Washington. An immersive portrayal of the Malcolm X Park Drum Circle, Giordano set out to document what he called “a living tradition” that fosters connection in the midst of gentrification. His dialogue-centered writing focused on community musicians named Rainbow Joe, Cassi and Fritz. “It was important to me to make sure that the folks that I interviewed got to tell their own story and share their community in their own words,” Giordano said.
SMPA’s Brown, the honorable mention creative writing winner for his story “Far From Unloved,” recounted community efforts to preserve Mount Zion Cemetery, a historic African American site in Georgetown. Inspired by a narrative journalism class with SMPA Professor Janet Steele, Brown challenged himself to illustrate “how this community came together to show this place some love.” He followed volunteers last fall as they painted grave markers, cleared leaves and debris and decorated headstones with Christmas wreaths.
For her Research Writing Prize-winning essay, “When the Salt Becomes Stone,” Public Health’s Tekola explored the effects of gentrification on the city’s Ethiopian population through its restaurants and markets. Tracing the community’s displacement from Adams Morgan to Shaw to Kennedy Street, Tekola spent hours interviewing shop owners. As crowds bustled through their stores, Tekola spoke to customers searching for spices and chatting in their native Amharic.
“As [a store owner] told me how her clientele was becoming more diverse, I couldn’t help thinking about how Ethiopian food just kept on getting trendier while Ethiopian residents kept on being pushed out,” Tekola noted. “The injera itself was the same, but what it meant to be eating it had really changed for me.”
Psychology major Yeh won the Community Impact in the District of Columbia award for founding the GW chapter of the Dementia Art Therapy Alliance. With over 100 undergraduate and graduate student volunteers, Yeh has led more than 60 sessions at the senior care facility Residences at Thomas Circle in Northwest D.C. since 2024.
Yeh described helping seniors with dementia and other neurodegenerative disorders battle isolation through art-making—like the shy resident who gained confidence from others’ compliments and the former economist whose cat Rascal became the group’s unofficial mascot.
“We’re really proud of the residents and their growth and the meaningful impact that we’ve created,” said Yeh, whose group also fundraises for Alzheimer’s care and research. “We hope to include the legacy of Julian Clement Chase in our student organization because we want to embody his compassion, care and service.”
The other honorable mention winners were:
- Journalism and mass communication senior Alexis Schultz for her essay “In A Room Full of Strangers: The Many Reasons We Show Up to Move Together.”
- CCAS geography alumnae Caitlin Chan, B.A. ’26, Bridget Kinnaman, B.S. ’26, and Ruby Klein, B.A. ’26, for their essay “It Takes a Village: Urban Gardens in Washington, D.C.”
- Human services and social justice alumnae Jessica Rich, B.A. ’26, and Julia Baran, B.A. ’26, and political science and journalism and mass communication senior Simone Semerjian for founding the after-school pilot program RootED (Rooted in Education and Development).
In addition to Ryder, the prize committee chairs were Associate Professor of English Jung Yun, Assistant Professor of Writing and History Philip Troutman and Amy Cohen, assistant vice provost and executive director of the Nashman Center.
Closing the ceremony, Granberg praised the prizes for connecting academics to public service while deepening students’ ties to the District. “I join the rest of the GW community in celebrating the ways that the Julian Clement Chase Prizes serve as a model for how GW can foster curious, empathetic engagement with D.C.,” she said, “strengthen immersive and engaged education and research and ground our students in a compassionate and civic-minded approach to their own education.”