Sixteen freshmen have been announced as winners of the Readership WT essay contest at West Texas A&M University. They include Taylor Cutbirth, an education major, of Kempner.

More than 240 WTAMU freshmen wrote essays about this year’s book selection, “A Thousand Splendid Suns,” and the winners were announced during a recent convocation.

The win will take the students to Turkey in March 2010 to work on service projects and teach English at a school in Goreme.

In addition to being named essay winners, the students also got the opportunity to meet Khaled Hosseini, author of “A Thousand Splendid Suns” and the convocation’s keynote speaker.

The students will stay with Turkish families, which will give them an opportunity to experience the culture firsthand while they help children practice their Englishspeaking skills at home.

“Service projects like this will be at the heart of what we’re trying to do on this trip,” said Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart, associate provost for academic affairs and director of Readership WT. “The students will begin preparing for the trip in early spring.

“We will become a family by the start of the trip and come back as spokesmen for the university to share our experiences with the community.”