Meet Some of Our Professional Writing Students

I think that the Professional Writing major at Champlain is greater in a sense because, at other schools, you can take Journalism as a major, or you can have a Creative Writing major, and nothing really encapsulates all of it. Here, you choose a specialization which you will focus in, but you get to take classes in every different aspect of writing. I think it is really helpful to be knowledgeable in all of it, because maybe down the line you want to change your career path, or you're asked to do something that you didn't focus on in school. But here, you get to learn about all of it and the professors really encourage you to defer outside of your comfort zone and take classes that you wouldn't normally take. I don't ever take any classes in editing and publishing because that's not really my realm, but it's good to know about technical writing and all the grammatical skills and things like that.

The Grind is the weekly open mic that we have every Wednesday in Fireside Lounge. People can come do stand up, people can sing, people can read poetry. I have been the host for three years now. It's a really good community to take a break from your work every Wednesday night, eat food, drink tea, and hang out with your friends. We are a welcoming community, and I think it's given me a lot of confidence in myself as a person.  I've fostered such a great community there, and everyone bolsters each other up no matter your ability and whatever you're trying to perform. It's just very encouraging and inclusive.

Every week I open the show with a set of three songs on my guitar, but other people do stand up, their own or something that they've seen on TV. A lot of people recite original poetry, stand up poems, spoken word, or just normal poetry. We have one person that plays the violin, some people bring their DJ decks and will play a set. We have a lot of variety. One person brings her saxophone sometimes.

I'm the Director of Communications for the SGA. The SGA is the Student Government Association, and my role as Director of Communications is to work with the President and the Vice President to make sure that we are communicating well with the student body, but also creating a really good relationship with the entire administration of Champlain. So, we promote different events on social media. A few weeks ago, I hosted a candy grams event where people could come into the office and interact with us, and we could send free candy for Valentine's Day. We also tried to set up a giving tree for holidays where you can give back to our community in Burlington as a whole.

I love my role there because I get to interact both with the administration, the student body, and I get to work a lot internally with the SGA. Being on the SGA cabinet has taught me a lot about applying my writing skills to my position there. Being able to work with the community, to write letters to the community, work with social media. Being on SGA has really advanced all of the skills that I'm learning here and makes sure that I'm able to apply them well.

I first came to Champlain for the Champlain Young Writers’ Conference in 2015. It was my first time ever hearing about Champlain or visiting the campus. The conference was an opportunity to stay on campus for the weekend (I slept in Butler), go to workshops in the classrooms, and roam around the campus to explore it on my own time. We were able to eat in the dining hall, and I remember consuming a lot of pizza bagels that weekend!

I love this program because it has allowed me to make incredible friends. I’ve never been surrounded by people who had similar interests as I do. This writing community is constantly encouraging one another to read work, swap drafts, give critique, provide edits, and help each other grow. We all have admiration for one another. We don't see each other as competition, but as collaborators. I love being able to go into our Discord server and say “Hey, I'm not feeling confident in this draft. Could you all help me?”—and they do!

I’ve been working in Compass Student Services since my first year. When I started, it was the Enrollment Services Center. In the past few years, I’ve watched and helped build the Compass office into something more identifiable and resourceful for students. 

In the summer of 2018, I was asked to join the Class of 2022’s Facebook page to help answer questions, concerns, and provide guidance on the Summer To-Dos. There’s a lot to be done before a student gets to campus, and it can be overwhelming and confusing. Then, I joined the Champlain Parents and Families Facebook Group. Parents tend to have more questions about what needs to be done, how to do it, and when it’s due. I started answering their questions, calming their concerns, and connecting them with the appropriate person if I couldn't answer. That was two years ago, and I have a cult-like following with them. I am often their first point of contact and their primary resource. I love talking to them over the summer and getting to meet them during Orientation. Sometimes, parents will call the office and ask for me directly. I’ve had parents bring me flowers and cookies.

Nothing brings me greater joy than helping a student or a parent. For some, this is their first child going off to college. There is a lot of trust there, and I want students to love being at Champlain as much as I do.

The Professional Writing program is so wonderful because it feels like a little bubble of inclusivity. Our artistic license and wingspan is constantly supported by every one of the faculty members, and they never fail to make you aware of that. I love that we are treated both as artists and technicians in our writing.

One of the classes with the most rewarding projects was the Publishing in the 21st Century course. I actually got to publish an anthology of Champlain student poetry. We did almost everything ourselves, from choosing the poems and photographs for inclusion to designing and sending off the files to the printer to coordinating where we would sell the publication. This was such a real-world experience that translated directly to my major and what I wanted to pursue in my career, which is incredible.

I actually worked with the Career Collaborative as a Financial Peer Coach. This position included holding office hours, when we gave students one-on-one appointments to review their credit reports, held workshops on personal finance, and helped students navigate their InSight milestones. I gained a ton of relevant life skills, like getting well trained in many aspects of personal finance, especially understanding credit.

I originally came to Champlain as a Computer Science & Innovation major. I felt pretty confident that I wanted to do computer science, but after a year in the program I realized programming wasn't for me. It wasn't fulfilling any of the creative drive I had. With the guidance of my professors, I switched into Creative Media for a little bit. I realized I was looking for more structure, so I turned to the Professional Writing major.

I was looking for a program that was along the lines of, "Enter this course, do these tasks and assignments, and you'll come out with these learned skills." I've been thrilled with my progress in the Professional Writing program. I've been able to secure two internships, showcase my work at multiple readings, and had pieces published online and in print.

The professors here care immensely about their students. I've found numerous mentors and had the pleasure of having real discussions with faculty who treat their students not as pupils, but as people with valuable perspectives. In fact, almost everyone I've met through school is passionate, motivated, thoughtful, and openhearted. It's an amazing community.