Senior, BA in English
Honors/Creative Writing

Writing-intensive courses taken: Magazine Writing 1 Adv. Expository Writing, Intro to Technical Writing Intro to Creative Writing, Fiction Workshop Poetry Workshop, Adv. Poetry Workshop Nonfiction Writing, Adv. Nonfiction Writing Script Writing, Graduate Writing Workshop Literary Magazines

"Montaigne understood that, in an essay, the track of a person's thoughts struggling to achieve some understanding of a problem is the plot. The essayist must be willing to contradict himself (for which reason an essay is not a legal brief), to digress, even to risk ending up in a terrain very different from the one he embarked on."

--Phillip Lopate, "What Happened to the Personal Essay?"

I wasn't always an English major. I started out at UCF ready to go into Business Administration. I got bored. Then Psychology seemed like a good idea. I got bored again. I tried Journalism for almost a semester. But once I took the introductory creative writing class, I was hooked. I changed my major to English shortly after that class had begun. Growing up, I didn't imagine I would be able to attend college and study an area for which I have an absolute passion. As I near the end of my undergraduate studies, writing has become not just part of my school life, but an essential piece of my life entire.

Through my workshop experience, I have realized that I don't just enjoy writing, but I love editing and helping other writers reach their goals. This is why I work at the University Writing Center. I crave that feeling of accomplishment when I help a fellow student realize a new angle to a story or essay. A piece of writing might go through several drafts before it is finished, from three to thirty. But it is the process of writing, the layers that can be uncovered through discussion and revision, that is always fresh and interesting. Every level of writer, from freshman to third-year graduate, can benefit from a visit to the Writing Center. I hope that when a student visits with me, I help uncover new ways to think about writing.