Please give us a brief bio what you have been doing since you graduated from Washington College, including current/recent work, as well as professional or personal achievements you might want to share.

Since graduating from Washington College, I taught high school English and later moved to Columbia, SC, where I earned a master’s degree in Rhetoric and Composition from the University of South Carolina. During my time there, I served as a First-Year English Instructor and writing tutor, and was honored with the Montgomery-Stowe Award for excellence in writing tutoring. I’m now excited to return to Washington College as the new Assistant Director of Experiential Learning, where I support students in exploring and advancing their career paths!

Take us back to your SCE. What motivated you to pursue the topic? What did you want your readers to understand?

While developing a topic for my SCE, I was initially drawn to Anne Carson’s work during a literary editing class with Dr. Hall. Her novel-in-verse, Autobiography of Red, both challenged and inspired me. I chose to apply deconstruction and psychoanalytic theories to explore the contradictions between Carson’s modern interpretation of the myth of Geryon and historical portrayals of this character, including the “poetic lies” woven between past and present imagery. My aim was to help readers appreciate the significance of language barriers within the text and understand how these barriers shape Geryon’s sense of identity and self-expression.

As you revisit your SCE now, what comes to mind, what do you most remember?

I remember the sense of accomplishment I felt after completing my thesis—it was the longest project I had undertaken at Washington College. I dedicated countless hours to research and re-reading the text before even beginning to write. At first, I wasn’t entirely sure how the project would take shape, so seeing it finally come together after months of effort was a rewarding way to cap off my undergraduate academic experience.

Are there skills, habits, or knowledge you learned or developed while working on the SCE that have been useful in what you have been doing since graduation?

Studying the deconstructive and psychoanalytic theories I planned to apply to the text was the most valuable part of the project for me. It prepared me for graduate-level work, where I needed to understand and apply complex theories within tight timeframes. One of the most important skills I gained was finding that right balance between research and writing, as well as managing the time I spent on each text. This skill became especially useful in graduate school, where the volume of reading assigned made it impossible to closely study everything. My thesis project was a great space for me to develop skills in time management and text analysis, making it easier in graduate work to focus on key texts and identify areas of personal interest for deeper study.

Many students worry about their final product and feel they need to have it all figured out before they start writing. I would say it is more productive to see writing as a tool to develop your ideas as you go. With the guidance of my advisor, Dr. Hall, my project’s structure naturally took shape over time. Embrace the process—it’s just as valuable as the finished product.