Stony Brook Southampton freshman students Rian K. Holman and Meredith Smith recently received awards in Stony Brook University's Creative Expressions contest and were honored on Sept. 22 at the University. Both submitted vivid, arresting poems inspired by "God Grew Tired of Us" by John Bul Dau as a part of the SBU 101 program.

Southampton's Adam J. Ortiz, senior associate director of Advising Services, led the local effort. Winners had a private lunch with the best-selling author.

Bul Dau is a Dinka from Southern Sudan and one of thousands of Lost Boys who fled their homeland during the Sudanese civil war. He found shelter at refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya before coming to Syracuse, where he now lives with his wife and daughter. The book became an award-winning movie in 2007.