The UCA English Department is unique because the program prepares you for a range of opportunities rather than a specific career path. Some may argue that English majors are “useless” because our focus is merely “reading books,” a wholly unpopular interest outside the realm of academia in the technological world. Nonetheless, we do not read fairy-tales and write fanfiction about them. We read the primary and secondary literature of complete English history. We analyze its conflicts, themes, characters, and context of the literature. We write extensive, analytical responses to the literature and study similarly-focused critical scholarship. And we form well-versed opinions and ideas based on the combined reading of the literature and corresponding scholarship. Essentially, the English department is designed to allow your voice and your ideas to shine through your annotations, class discussions, and personal research papers. You are shaping your identity with each friendly disagreement of opinion and frustrated sigh at the plot-progression of a particular play. The skills you learn as an English student are valuable and marketable to nearly every employer because you possess the ability to obtain new information, interpret its meaning, and respectfully communicate unique ideas gleaned from the information that can forge pathways of empathy, creativity, and — ultimately– progress. Therefore, I am confident that if I continue to graduate school to become a professor, work in a library system, pursue a publishing career, study law, become a theater-based dramaturg, or an independent author, I will be fully equipped to tackle the challenges of the career.

Pursuing a degree to become an English teacher, I had accounted for lesson plans and reading classics. What I had not accounted for was how through lecture and literature, I would follow history, world events, culture, and the simple lives of gifted writers taking down history with a pen. Beginning with the very history of English language and literature, UCA English has equipped me with knowledge and prepared me to teach. Studying the work of past writers has broadened my views, challenged me, and taught me to think larger than the simple words on paper. My career goals have expanded with the confidence that I can make a difference with my words and writing because of the critical thinking I have stretched and developed. While teaching has my whole heart, I feel empowered to pursue school administration or continue looking into school policy, which I have always been interested in. I want to make a difference in education, and teaching is where I will start. I began as a student who had limits. Through class debates, discussions with my professors, the encouragement and opportunity they have provided me with, my limits are replaced with confidence. In my own classroom, I hope to never lose sight of the way that my college professors made every class discussion accessible to every learner. Studying English at UCA has been so much more than I thought it would be, and though my journey as a UCA bear may be coming to an end in the spring, my journey as a student will never be over.

As a graduate student in the English department here at the University of Central Arkansas, I undoubtedly believe that there is no better preparation for life than the English degree. The adventure of studying English has given me the tools to navigate my course through life and explore what it means to live in this world. I am forever grateful and appreciative for my professors in the English department who have supported and encouraged me as well as shown me the beauty and ever-lasting power of literature.These aforementioned “tools”—empathy, compassion, criticality, and thoughtfulness, among others—embody the essence of what it means to be human; there is no better deliverance of those tools than through the stories and characters that comprise the literature that I have read and studied. I am so grateful that I have pursued this degree and continue to study literature, and I see the effects of the English degree in my own life every day. I’ve seen the influence that the power of language and words can have on our hearts and minds. I’ve come to understand the importance of empathy and compassion in building and sustaining relationships. I’ve also realized the importance of maintaining thoughtfulness and patience in every endeavor and experience. I believe that the pursuit of the English degree has more of an impact on developing these characteristics than any other discipline or field, for literature is the nexus by which we understand ourselves.

Ultimately, through my endeavors in the English discipline, in the words of David Foster Wallace, I know that “the capital-T Truth is about life BEFORE death.” The immensity of life goes far beyond the boundaries of a page in a book, but it is within those pages that we learn what it means to live within that expansiveness—what it means to be human in the uncertainty—the microcosmic flash that marks our birth and our death—that constitutes our existence.

As a graduate student in the English department here at the University of Central Arkansas, I undoubtedly believe that there is no better preparation for life than the English degree. The adventure of studying English has given me the tools to navigate my course through life and explore what it means to live in this world. I am forever grateful and appreciative for my professors in the English department who have supported and encouraged me as well as shown me the beauty and ever-lasting power of literature. These aforementioned “tools”—empathy, compassion, criticality, and thoughtfulness, among others—embody the essence of what it means to be human; there is no better deliverance of those tools than through the stories and characters that comprise the literature that I have read and studied. I am so grateful that I have pursued this degree and continue to study literature, and I see the effects of the English degree in my own life every day. I’ve seen the influence that the power of language and words can have on our hearts and minds. I’ve come to understand the importance of empathy and compassion in building and sustaining relationships. I’ve also realized the importance of maintaining thoughtfulness and patience in every endeavor and experience. I believe that the pursuit of the English degree has more of an impact on developing these characteristics than any other discipline or field, for literature is the nexus by which we understand ourselves.

Ultimately, through my endeavors in the English discipline, in the words of David Foster Wallace, I know that “the capital-T Truth is about life BEFORE death.” The immensity of life goes far beyond the boundaries of a page in a book, but it is within those pages that we learn what it means to live within that expansiveness—what it means to be human in the uncertainty—the microcosmic flash that marks our birth and our death—that constitutes our existence.

My journey with English at UCA was a rather unconventional one. First of all, when I got to UCA my freshman year I had not even thought about studying English. When I first arrived, I wanted to major in Health Education and become an Occupational Therapist. So how does one go from Health Education to English? Well my second semester I took a World Literature class as one of my required electives. As I sat and listened to my professor describe this literature, and the possible interpretations that could be drawn from it, I became captivated by not only these beautiful works, but how fervently this professor spoke about them. One day we were having our essays returned to us, and at the bottom of mine my professor had written “Have you ever considered majoring in English?” At first, I just shrugged it off because I already knew what I wanted to do, but I was flattered that she thought I was a good fit. The following semester I needed an elective to fulfill my fine arts credit, and I decided to take Intro to Drama. I watched another professor teach about a subject she so clearly loved, and that love spilled over onto me. I enjoyed this class and the professor so much that the next semester I decided to take her Shakespeare I class. Having both of these professors back to back it became clear that I was in the wrong major, so the following semester I changed my major from Health Education to English. Once I made the switch the real English journey began. I went on to take the before mentioned professors a total of 4 times each, and with each class I felt like my journey into the English world was only just beginning. I also had the pleasure of taking several other classes taught by different professors in this department. All of whom are incredibly unique in their teaching styles, but equally passionate about the subject they are teaching. Fast forward to now where I am coming off of my second year of teaching high school English. In this digital age it is incredibly difficult to get high schoolers excited about literature. Especially if they feel like it is not relatable to them, but if I learned anything during my time at UCA it is that history repeats; therefore, literature repeats. What I mean by that is that there is a pretty good chance that whatever my students are experiencing has been experienced by authors of the past. Every time I get ready to teach anything Shakespeare I think of my experience taking that class and I tell my students I know a famous Shakespearean actress (they think that’s pretty cool), or when I am covering Toni Morrison it’s like I can visualize my Southern Lit professor’s hands moving as she is giving the background of Morrison’s life (she talks with her hands if you were unaware). I learned so much from these professors during my time at UCA, but perhaps what I remember most is how passionate they were about what they were teaching. It showed a love for the discipline of English that I feel is lost upon the general population. I strive to teach with that type of passion in hopes to instill that kind of love into my students.