Degree: BA English '21
Research Interests: 20th-century American literature, sociolinguistics, and women in fiction
Extracurricular Activities: Involvement with the Drexel Writing Festival
Awards: Dean’s List, 2017-Present, Ralph C. Most Memorial Scholarship

Tell us about your recent courses or experiences in your major.
Some of the most interesting English courses I’ve taken in the past few terms have been 19th-century American Poetry and The Brontës in 1847. I also completed an internship in publishing a few months ago, which is a hybrid between a course and an internship. The Brontës class and the poetry class were especially interesting because of the amount of time we were able to spend with individual pieces and authors. They were both special topics courses, which I personally enjoy because they allow for a greater level of depth and specificity in a given area. The internship in publishing was also really interesting because it introduced us to different aspects of how publishing works, including reading, filtering through magazine submissions and writing our own posts for Drexel’s 5027mac.

What have been the most important elements of your experiences as an English major?
For me, one of the most interesting aspects of my experience as an English major has been the breadth of new material I’ve been exposed to. Although we do spend a lot of time reading the canon, especially in survey classes, I’ve really enjoyed the variety of specialized classes that have introduced me to new authors and theories.

The internship in publishing was also an extremely formative experience because it involved us with the processes of publishing outside of a classroom environment. A lot of the work was self-directed, so it was an opportunity to write about almost anything while learning to make it suitable for an audience online. At the end of the class, we all submitted a final feature piece. Doing a project that still exists online was a great opportunity to gain more professional experience and learn about creating and carrying out a project.

Have you had any travel experiences through Drexel?
This fall, I’m going to study abroad in London through Drexel and the Foundation for International Exchange. I haven’t traveled very much before, so I’m looking forward to spending a full 10 weeks in another country. While there, I’m taking 20th-Century UK Migrant Fiction and Shakespeare — I’m especially excited to watch plays at the Globe as part of the Shakespeare class. The program also has a required communications class about British Life and Visual Media that I’m looking forward to. I’ve heard positive things about the program, and they offer a lot of different courses that would work with most majors.

What advice do you have for a high school student looking for an undergraduate program?
If think you know what you want to do, look up the major in the course catalogue. Knowing the requirements for the major you want is a good idea because you can see what types of classes you’ll be taking are and how much freedom you’ll have to choose between them. You can also research professors that teach different classes and look into what the average class sizes are. If you’re not sure exactly what you want to do, you can still look at the different programs offered and talk to students about their experiences to see what you might be interested in.