Towards the beginning of Perspectives (a required 2 credit freshman seminar course), the students in my class shared life maps of how we ended up at Susquehanna, which seems like a fitting way to start this blog.
I’ve always wanted to go to college, as far as I can remember. And just like I’ve always wanted to go to college, I’ve always wanted to be a writer.
My elementary school years were spent drawing and writing stories. In second grade, our teacher had us write weekly in a Weekend Journal. I always wrote more than the other students and was thrilled by the teacher’s encouraging comments. Stunning literary talent isn’t exactly evident whenever I comb through that old journal. What is evident is the torture I put my parents through in quests for Backstreet Boys apparel and my family's enduring love for pizza. My passion for writing increased tenfold when I wrote a story about a superhero teacher, the student who discovers her secret, and the giant lizard villain they must defeat. I showed it to my third grade teacher, Mrs. Bechtel, who I remember as one of my favorite all-time teachers. She had me read my story to the class and put it in the school library. I was hooked on writing and the idea of publishing, even though this experience meant hearing about my third grade lizard story all the way into middle school.
It also meant I was never one of those kids that wrote in secret. From that early age I was known as the Writer Girl—a shallow generalization, sure, but one that was pretty okay with me. This perception didn’t vanish in middle or high school, since both eras were spent getting serious about my writing. In middle school, I attempted my first novel, and I’ve been writing novel-length works ever since.
When I needed something to do the summer after my sophomore year, I started searching for summer writing programs. I found a summer writing workshop for high school students at Susquehanna University. That is when I first became aware of the school’s stellar creative writing program, though I had certainly heard of SU before. During the one week program, I fell in love with the campus, met the girl who is currently my roommate, experienced my first real workshop with Tom Bailey as my teacher, and felt what it was like to be surrounded by people who loved writing as much as I did.
I was sold. I was going to study Creative Writing no matter where I went. I was also sold on my love for Susquehanna—though I wasn’t positive I’d come here yet, and wouldn’t be until late my senior year.
Look forward to the other parts of “Journey to Susquehanna," since I have already rambled about myself far too long for one post.
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