Year Received Award: 2004
High School: Concordia Lutheran High School
Hometown: Fort Wayne, Indiana
Area of study: English (Literature); History Minor
Career Aspirations: Graduate School for either an MFA in Creative Writing or MA in English; eventually pursuing a doctorate and/or College English Teacher
Interests: As expected, I am interested in reading and writing. I’ve also taken a real interest in foreign languages, especially this past year. I’m taking French, and I’m also taking German at the same time. Plus, I’m trying to teach myself Japanese, and I’ve taken Spanish. I really want to go back to Europe. That’s what I feel like I’m preparing myself for. And I love playing card games.
Leadership roles on campus: I’m an editor for In the Moment, a student anthology on campus. I’ve been an editor for three years. I’ve also been an ARC Writing Consultant for three years, and I’ve been a tutor for Earth Science for a semester. I also enjoy performing, which would explain why I was in the play, Dancing at Lughnasa.
Why do you love Concordia? I am a lover of a small campus, a small community, just really getting to know people, so this campus really catered to that. People here really feel like family. But if I had to simplify, I would pick two different things. First of all, there’s the natural setting/location. I love the fact that you can just go out of your dorm and spend five minutes walking down to the woods and be completely isolated from everybody, and you can just sit there and reflect on everything. Secondly, the English faculty is awesome here. I’ve definitely changed because of the way they’ve taught, and I know I want to imitate them.
How has the Presidential Scholarship benefited you? It’s wonderful to be able to focus on the courses I want and need to take, rather than the ones I can afford to take. I see them more as opportunities to learn, rather than burdens to pay back. It’s also been that little ego boost I need to compete at the college level, like “Okay, I’m ready for this. Obviously I can survive in this.”
