The Jon Miller Student Writing Awards

"Jon Miller gave me my first C's. His class killed me that first year at NCSSM. I had to really think about what I was talking about in a deeper way, probably for the first time in an English class… But what I remember more was his wry smile, his generosity, his humor, that voice, and the way he could make you connect with literature so that it really meant something to our lives.”

Hao Zhu (1995)

"He changed my life, the way I think, the way I read and write."

Beth Tripp McCarty (1986)

"His door was always open and his office always had a student in it, but he always made time for me."

Margery Hollis Warner (1986)

"He never took the material less than completely seriously. In his class, we were doing important work, not just passing time until we graduated and got a real job."

Amanda Greene Stroud (1995)

“I still remember the last question on the “Miller Killer” final examination in American Literature: “Here!”  This was the last word spoken by Natty Bumppo in James Fenimore Cooper’s novel, The Prairie."

Darryl Peterkin (1984)

"I can bring up a feeling of warmth and happiness from those days.  He taught how words could be like paintings but even more complex, more beautiful."

Barbra Rothschild (1986)

"This is how I remember Dr. Jon Miller.  He’s leaned over the same type of desk we all sat around the circle in.  He’s grabbing the ends of the writing surface as if he were going to propel himself forward at any moment.  It was a posture of expectation, that some mind-blowing insight was going to come hurtling out of the page."

Tim Tucker (1991)

"He said that poetry is meant to be read out loud; and from that point onward, I really heard poetry for the first time.  He changed my soul."

Heidi Yoon (1999)

"He made every text come to life in ways that made you feel like you were really there in 16th century America or 19th century Britain.”

Jeremy DeJournett (2012)

"To live the good life. If you asked Dr. Miller what the purpose of education was, that was the answer you received.”

Kristian Gaylord (2015)

"I wonder if he chose to read How the Grinch Stole Christmas to point out that all hearts CAN grow. And he did so, every year, in hope that ours would grow, even just a little.”

Mike Riddle (1982)

"Jon Miller gave me my first C's. His class killed me that first year at NCSSM. I had to really think about what I was talking about in a deeper way, probably for the first time in an English class… But what I remember more was his wry smile, his generosity, his humor, that voice, and the way he could make you connect with literature so that it really meant something to our lives.”

Hao Zhu (1995)