From Jill Salahub, English Department Communications Coordinator: I am so happy to introduce the English Department’s Communications Interns for Spring 2016 — Ashley Alfirevic (returning), Beth Campbell, and Kaitlyn Phillips. Just like the position description stated, they are creative and enthusiastic CSU students with good communication and writing skills who are super excited to help us tell the story of the English Department. We had our first official meeting last week, and the room was full of so much good energy and so many great ideas! I can’t wait to share more of their work with you. If you have any ideas of what they should be writing about, events they should be attending, people they should profile, etc., send those suggestions my way.
From Ashley Alfirevic: Winter break provided some rest and relaxation as I caught up with family and friends back home in Chicago. Seeing as this was first time in a few years that Christmas didn’t come coupled with a polar vortex, it was the perfect opportunity to go explore the city. My trip back to Colorado started a little early with a few days in Breckenridge, where I skied my first black diamond trails and narrowly avoided several wipe-outs.
Not much different from those intimidating new trails, I’m excited and a little nervous to tackle my last semester of college. Senior year means the embarking on the job hunt and navigating adulthood, but I’m not ready to call myself a graduate just yet. There are a few more items to tick off the list before I leave CSU, like rafting down the Poudre or going to a concert at Red Rocks. And, of course, I’d like to make the most of my time left in the English Department.
I’m eager to meet my two new colleagues in the English Department Communications Internship, and hope to offer some helpful tidbits during our time together. Though far from old and wise, seniority has granted me a little perspective. While this comes with the territory, attend all the readings, presentations, poetry slams, and English Department events that you can. I’m making up for lost time this year, and am now realizing how much they ground you in the CSU English community. Don’t be too intimidated to talk with professors and grad students (even if you have a bit of an awkward start); everyone in the department is welcoming and friendly, and will be more than willing to strike up a conversation.
And while this is terribly, awfully cliché, you’ll be signing your graduation contract before you know it. Make sure you can look back on your time with a little bit of a smile, maybe because you talked with a professor who was passionate about their course, or met a classmate who made you think during discussions, or a read book that changed the way you looked at the world around you.
From Beth Campbell: Literature is the purest expression of the human spirit, which is why it terrifies some, confuses others, and delights those who dare to keep looking. This is my dearest belief and why I am so passionate about what I do. I am a second year English Education major who loves being involved with anything related to reading, writing, or education. When I am not reading whatever book I picked up this week from the library or in class, I am out meeting new people, going to poetry slams, or relaxing in my favorite corner of the Alleycat. I am a tea connoisseur, an advocate for adult nap time and recess, and I always eat dessert first, because life is too short to pass up the good stuff.
I have been writing for most of my life, but my writing career only took off two years ago when a poem of mine was published in the America Library of Poets yearly book Accolades. I began to pursue English as a major and career choice when I came to college. I was hired as a weekly writer for an online national journal called The Odyssey, where I continue to publish short works of fact and opinion. I am very excited for this internship and cannot wait to see what this semester holds for us!
From Kaitlyn Phillips: I’m incredibly excited to join CSU’s English Department as an intern this Spring; I’ve been part of the community as a student for almost two years, and I’m excited to gain new perspective on this place that many of us English majors call home. My concentration is education, and I hope to one day be the kind of teacher that creates the same sense of community in her classroom that I’ve found here in the university’s English department. When I’m not studying English here on campus, I’m most often at Putnam Elementary school, where I work as a teaching assistant in a preschool classroom, or doing small projects as the Development Officer of the nonprofit Far Away Friends; our mission is to extend quality education into Northern Uganda, and it has been amazing to take my passion for education across the globe. Additionally I am a lover of coffee, books, and people, and can be found binge watching Grey’s Anatomy on any given weekend. I am crazy excited to be taking on this internship this semester, and hope to help the community as much as I learn from it.