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Saying Goodbye to our
Senior English Majors
Amanda Freeman
What is your best memory from MC?
My best memory of
Monmouth College would have to be the up-all-nighters that were
pulled with numerous friends where work should have been
accomplished but instead friendships were established. There were
so many endless nights in Mellinger where I would constantly meet
new people and, although papers did get done, the jokes and laughter
prevailed.
What will
you miss most about MC?
I will most miss the
ability to walk down the hall and knock on someone’s door at
2
am just to talk because I want to talk. In the past four years I
have grown accustomed to having my friends just a few steps away
that to have to plan events to see each other is going to be a wake
up call in the reality of a “big people’s world.”
What made you
want to be an English major?
I knew that I wanted to
be an English major ever since high school. When I entered MC my
decision was reaffirmed by my Comp. and Lit. professor because he
was so open and available to talk to. When I was able to choose him
as my advisor later, I knew that I had truly made the right
decision.
What author / piece of literature that you
studied in any English class do you despise the most?
Paradise
Lost!!!! Sorry Mark!
Because it was so
ungodly long and just didn’t hold my interest.
What has been
the most challenging aspect of the English major?
Writing the correct
way. I had always written papers through train of consciousness so
it made it harder when I was told to write thesis-based papers.
Also, keeping up with all of the reading! In other majors, people
can get away with forgetting about their textbooks but in English if
all of the work isn’t read, it is really hard to understand anything
whatsoever that is going on in class.
What are your
plans for after graduation?
In all honesty, I would
like to take a short break. It has been a long four years and I
look forward to continuing my job at Tweeter Center in Tinley Park
for the summer to have some fun before I am required to become a
“big person!”
Betsy Mahrt and Autumn McGee
What is your best memory from MC?
Autumn: My
favorite MC memories are with the friends I’ve made here, some of
which are not appropriate to mention.
Betsy:
The sprained
ankle incident after the double date fiasco.
What will
you miss most about MC?
Autumn:
EVERYTHING! I’ll miss my friends and professors, but most of all
I’ll miss the undergrad experience as a whole.
Betsy:
“Face time with the profs!”
What made you
want to be an English major?
Autumn:
I’ve always loved English and it always came easily to me until I
had Mrs. Kohler in AP English in high school. When she challenged
me, it only made the subject more interesting, and that’s when I
decided to pursue it in college.
Betsy: Why
wouldn’t I want to be an English major is the question. All you do
is read stories and poems and make up things to say about them.
What author
/ piece of literature that you studied in any English class do you
despise the most?
Autumn: I
don’t like Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway was a pompous. He was a
drunk. He was a misogynist. Need I say more?
Betsy:
Anything that had to do with
“trickster gods” was pretty terrible. So was anything about
pioneers.
What has been
the most challenging aspect of the English major?
Autumn:
Mark’s Advanced Comp. class because he made me think and write harder
than ever before.
Betsy:
Not going to
Mark’s class with my morning treat. It’s at
9 a.m.
What are your
plans for after graduation?
Autumn:
I’ll hopefully get an internship that I interviewed for, and then
I’m off to grad school at WIU for College Student Personnel in the
fall.
Betsy:
A job would be
nice. Any old one will do. I’m headin’ to Chicago.
Carrie Casper
What is your best memory from MC?
My best memory was not being on campus at all, but being overseas for
a semester. Definitely, the best time of my life.
What will you miss most about MC?
I honestly can't say. Let me get back to you in about a year when
I'm broke.
What made you
want to be an English major?
I did not have enough to do with one major. So I decided to take on
an English major. And I was able to composition out of Composition and
Literature.
What author / piece of
literature that you studied in any English class do you despise the
most?
Heart of Darkness. I hate it. NO more Heart of Darkness.
What has been
the most challenging aspect of the English major?
Um the papers? Yeah, those suck pretty hard.
What are your
plans for after graduation?
I plan on getting certified in teaching English as a second
language and getting my butt back to Europe.
Faith Bode
What is your best memory from MC?
I have way too many
memories to list, but some of my best memories here have been
hanging out and partying with my roommate. Another would have
to be meeting my fiancé
here.
What will
you miss most about MC?
Umm, nothing really.
I'm ready to get out into the real world.
What made you
want to be an English major?
Ever since I started winning Young Authors awards in grade school, I
have known that writing is my strong point. But, the first
time I visited MC, I toured the science department because I was
considering going into marine biology. After talking with a
professor, I realized I should probably just stick with English
because it comes naturally to me. I also had a great
experience in Comp. and Lit. with Rob and his encouragement really
solidified my decision.
What author / piece of literature that you
studied in any English class do you despise the most?
It would probably have
to be Walt Whitman. After having to do my sophomore research
paper on his work, I grew to hate it intensely.
What has been
the most challenging aspect of the English major?
The most challenging aspect has
probably been taking the time to read all of the books that were
assigned. In some classes we had to read six or eight novels,
and that really takes time.
What are your
plans for after graduation?
I
will be very busy this summer and fall planning for my wedding in
October. Besides all of that fun stuff, I will be moving to
the Rockford area in an attempt to find a job. Oh yeah, did I
fail to mention that much time and labor will be spent picking out
the new car that I will receive as a graduation gift?!
Jessica Heinen
What is your best memory from MC?
My best memory would have to be spending time with Abi Mogge
freshman year and having her introduce me to my boyfriend, now my
fiancé.
What will you miss most about MC?
I will miss seeing my closest friends so often and being able to
spend so much time with them.
What made you
want to be an English major?
I wanted to be an
English major because I loved literature, reading it, talking about
it, analyzing it. I had already decided pretty early on that this
was the major I was going to go into because analyzing literature
was what I was good at…grammar, not so much.
What author / piece of literature that you
studied in any English class do you despise the most?
I’d say I despised
Chaucer a whole lot. Beowulf was atrocious. And Shakespeare didn’t
leave me with a warm feeling of glee either.
What has been
the most challenging aspect of the English major?
Writing all of the papers because you really
had to focus and write well in order to do well on them. Also,
forming thesis statements
sucked.
What are your
plans for after graduation?
I hope to start
working full time to pay off some massive bills that I have. My
fiancé and I are moving in together and we are getting married a
year from June.
Matt Underwood
What is your best memory from MC?
Grabbing Mark’s
ass at Matriculation this year.
What will you
miss most about MC?
The ease with
which I coasted through the English department.
What made you
want to be an English major?
Mark Willhardt’s
mellifluous sycophancy. He knew exactly how to treat an arrogant
freshmen: stroke his fragile ego until he becomes a major, then
crush him in the surveys.
What author / piece of
literature that you studied in any English class do you despise the
most?
The romantics were the
worst. They couldn’t see the forest for the trees, the whole lot
of ’em. Early American lit. is pretty tedious too.
What has been
the most challenging aspect of the English major?
Writing. They
deceive you into thinking its some sort of learnable process.
What are your
plans for after graduation?
Graduate Studies
at Texas Tech.
Mike Fanucce
Did not reply to survey
Rebekah Danaher
What is your best memory from MC?
There have been so many that it is impossible for me to try to
choose one. Some of the highlights have been the garden tours at
Dr. Watson’s house, meeting Barbara for the first time, standing in
Westminster Abbey during my semester study abroad, and recently,
celebrating Wordsworth’s birthday with Sigma Tau Delta.
What will you miss most about MC?
The guidance and encouragement from the department. When I enrolled
at MC, I don’t think I could have anticipated the amount of support
and expertise that I have enjoyed over my four years here. I
believe I have been given a top notch education and I doubt that I
will ever again receive the same amount of attention and concern
from professors. Most of all, I know I am going to miss sitting in
Rob’s or Mark’s office while they shout back and forth at each
other.
What made you
want to be an English major?
I
knew I was going to study English when I came to MC, but my first
literature class here, Dr. Watson’s American Survey, confirmed my
decision – one I will never regret.
What
author / piece of literature that you studied in any English class
do you despise the most?
At this moment, Toni
Morrison, but probably only because I am exhausted from writing my
senior thesis. My opinion may change in a few weeks. Actually,
Thomas Dryden sticks out in my mind as being pretty despicable.
What has been
the most challenging aspect of the English major?
The biggest challenge
for me has been developing my confidence as a writer. Facing my own
doubts about my abilities has proven to be one of my toughest
battles. Mark’s Advanced Composition class has really helped me
this year.
What are your
plans for after graduation?
In June, I will be leaving for North Carolina where I will be
participating in a summer journalism internship set up by the
Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University. It will
provide me with some excellent experience in that field and will
help me determine if journalism is what I want to pursue in terms of grad
school. I am taking a year off to work and save money, but I plan to
go to grad school next fall.
Shannon Kloser
What is your best memory from MC?
There are far too
many to list…
What will you
miss most about MC?
My
friends, my roommate, the English department, hanging out in Mark’s office
while yelling across to Rob, the campus in the spring time.. the
list goes on..
What made you
want to be an English major?
I came into college wanting to be an English/
Secondary Ed. Major because I have always loved to read and wanted
to teach. I was fortunate to have had a lot of strong, positive
influences during high school that helped me decide that I wanted to
become an English teacher. When I came to Monmouth, I had Willhardt
for Comp. and Lit. and having his class really made me want to stay in
the department and I am so glad that I have!
What author / piece of literature that you
studied in any English class do you despise the most?
Anything from
American Survey I. I found it all very dry and boring.
What has been
the most challenging aspect of the English major?
The most challenging
aspect has been trying to keep up with the reading, writing papers,
and watching my non-English major friends do very little homework.
I was pretty involved during my four years so at times it was a bit
overwhelming and it was hard having to do so much work and watch my
friends do nothing at all.
What are your
plans for after graduation?
I am going to be
working at a 4-H summer camp as the high adventure director. After
that? Hopefully teaching school somewhere.
Scott Copeland
Did not reply to survey
Vicki Hughes
Did not reply to survey |
