For your first blog post, please introduce the person you interviewed to the rest of class. Write a 250-350 profile that captures who he or she is, where he or she is from, and what he or she likes to do. You might tell us more about this person’s experiences as a writer or his or her interest in service-learning.
Whatever issues you focus on, take care with this short piece, for it is our first impression of you as a writer, as well as the first impression of the person you interviewed. Have fun with this piece—make it interesting! Use quotes, brief stories, and any other vivid details you can discover to enrich your mini-profile.
For example, if I were to interview myself and post the result, I might write something like:
Place matters to Professor Geoffrey Bateman, which is why his current research is so important to him. "I think the different regions of our country shape us in important ways," he says. “As a teacher and scholar, I'm interested in studying the literature and cultural history of places, especially the American West."
Having grown up near Portland, Oregon, his interest in the West has evolved since childhood. He grew up exploring everything from the majestic Columbia River Gorge to the misty Oregon coast; he hiked parts of the Pacific Crest Trail and hung out in the quirky urban spaces of Portland and Seattle.
These experiences may help explain his current research on the queer frontier. His dissertation explores the cultural representations of sexuality in the American West near the end of the 19th century.
"It's a particularly rich period for sexuality studies,” he observes. "Sexual identity was not nearly as cut and dried as it became in the mid to late 20th century. And when you consider how racialized identities and gender norms factor into this understanding, you have an explosion of fascinating accounts—both literary and historical.”
But his interests don’t lie solely in the past. Professor Bateman believes strongly that historical research must speak to contemporary issues, especially those that are politically charged.
“Literature and history offers us a way to rethink current problems, and for me, I think the most rewarding I can do historically is to show others how texts from the past allow us to re-imagine our lives today.”
Such engagement means that in his first-year writing courses, he tries to find meaningful ways for students to practice their writing. Ideally, he wants them to connect abstract rhetorical concepts and research methodologies with ideas and problems outside our university context.
“Ultimately,” he says, “I want students to feel confident that what they’re learning in my classroom not only prepares them for the rest of their time at DU, but also starts them on a much larger journey of being an engaged citizen for the rest of their lives.”
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Kelsey Jensen is a biochemistry major from Littleton, CO. She chose the University of Denver for its small size, good reputation, and proximity to home. The scholarship she was awarded and tour of the science labs were also major contributors to her decision. With her biochemistry major, Kelsey wishes to pursue a career with the U.S. Department of Defense, working to combat the growing terrorism problems.
ReplyDeleteKelsey loves Colorado and everything it has to offer, so she wishes to remain here after college. Her favorite part is the skiing in warm weather, the snow with the sunshine. During her free time, she plays the World War II games on Xbox, reads, or watches movies. She has three series obsessions, the first being Harry Potter, the second Eragon, and the third the Clan of the Cave Bears. She is also an ardent follower of The Office, House, Hell’s Kitchen, American Idol, and Fringe.
Kelsey’s parents have been together for 25 years, and she has an older sister, Kim, who is she says is getting married to an immature boy. Keeping with her dad’s Danish heritage, her family often cooks traditional Danish meals. Her favorite is Frikadila, or Danish meatballs, which Kelsey says are delicious.
Like many science majors, Kelsey despises writing and would rather write a lab report any day. She attributes this dislike to the fact that it is hard for her to elaborate and compose a long, wordy paper. She likes to keep things brief and to the point.
Anya Morin feels compelled to make a difference in the world. Hailing from Golden, Colorado, Anya is an International Studies major at the University of Denver. She feels that writing is very ambiguous, but she can express herself better through writing rather than speaking. She loves DU and its campus. When asked why she chose to attend DU, she replied that she “received a good scholarship, and knew that it was a good school…with a strong international studies program.” Anya also enjoys being close to home, able to see her family and occasionally get that home-cooked meal.
ReplyDeleteAs the youngest of three, family is an important aspect of Anya’s life, perhaps another reason that she remained close to home. She gets along pretty well with her parents, glad for their open relationship. Anya has also leaned substantially on the guidance of her two older sisters, Emily and Alyssa. However, she does claim to have very different relationships with the two of them. “I am very similar to my older sister, Alyssa,” Anya says, “she even calls me her ‘mini-me.’” Regardless, Anya still maintains that she is her own person—unique in many ways.
The values to which Anya adheres are based in the Christian religious doctrine. Above all, honesty and loyalty are high on Anya’s list of values. She believes that friendship and family are strengthened directly by these core principles. However, Anya herself is not religious. Born and raised a Christian with her father as a pastor, currently Anya does not consider herself a Christian because of “certain issues with organized religion.” Yet, she still believes that those Christian values have stuck with her.
Anya’s favorite book, The Giver by Lois Lowry, tells a lot about the type of person that she is. What she truly enjoys about it is the “message that people shouldn’t just accept things.” That is how Anya leads her life. She currently lives on the Social Justice LLC, works with the Dumb Friends League, and coaches gymnastics on campus. In the future, Anya is considering working with NGOs (Non-government organizations) out of the country in either Africa or possibly South America. She is still hesitant, but Anya says that “it will be something that I really want to do and I hope that I will accomplish a lot.” Changing the world is an awfully big goal, but we wish her good luck in those endeavors and wholeheartedly welcome her to our writing class.
Leah Goldshur is a business major from Chicago. She decided to come to Colorado for school because she has been skiing since she was very young and likes the outdoors. Her favorite ski resort to go to is Vail, and even though she doesn’t have a car she catches rides from friends and makes it up to the mountains often. Leah is also a member of Gamma Phi Beta, and likes to spend free time with her sorority sisters.
ReplyDeleteAlthough she doesn’t know what she wants to do for a job after she graduates, Leah chose business as a major because DU’s business school has a great reputation, and she feels that a degree from the business school will provide her with ample job opportunities.
Leah has two younger brothers, Adam and Ryan. They are fourteen and twelve, respectively. Because of the age difference Leah is not especially close to her brothers, but she says their relationship have improved as they have gotten older.
"Perks of Being a Wallflower" is Leah’s favorite book, due to the style in which it is written. It is a series of letters to an anonymous reader, and she feels she can relate well to the author because reading the letters seems more personal. Her favorite movie is "Pirates of the Caribbean," because it’s exciting and funny, and she likes Johnny Depp. Leah listens to all different types of music, and did not specify a favorite genre.
Zach Welch is a Colorado native. Originally from the Denver area, his place of residence is now Falcon, Colorado. This small town is just outside of Colorado Springs, which he hates. Zach has a strong dislike of the conservative nature and the religious culture that is present in the area. On the contrary, he loves Denver. In fact, some of his fondest memories take place at his grandmother’s house in Lakewood. His immediate family consists of his parents and his younger brother, Tristan.
ReplyDeleteHere at the University of Denver Zach is majoring in film production and creative writing. While he enjoys creative writing, he is not a fan of research papers, nor is he fond of reading. His favorite movies consist of horror films such as Psycho and The Ring, but not The Ring 2. His freshman seminar was on horror movies and it is part of the reason he chose his current major.
As for his taste in music, he is a fan of bands such as Slightly Stoopid and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He commented that overall he likes most things from the ‘90s. It ranges from the music to Super Ninetendo. He wishes that he had been able to spend his teen years in the ‘90s.
Currently one of his favorite pastimes is broomball. He is not only the goalie of a team but the captain too. It wasn’t until he came to school that he discovered this great sport.
Kelly is an environmental chemistry major dedicated to helping the community, going green, and doing plenty of service work. She has been a part of Engineers without Borders, going to places like Haiti and Dominican Republic. Kelly strives to spread the word about this organization, and has even contributed to the development of an ‘Engineers without Borders’ sector here at DU. She is excited about being the secretary for the organization next year.
ReplyDeleteKelly and her 20 year old sister Rachel have the same great passion for travel, as Rachel is currently studying abroad in Ghana. “It’s a great experience for her, but it sucks for me, since we’re so close and I rarely get to talk to her,” says Kelly of her sister. Their sisterly bond has gone unharmed, even with their current separation.
As part of the Living and Learning Community of Environmental Awareness on campus, Kelly enjoys spreading the word about the environment and going on retreats with her hall-mates, white water rafting, and plenty of other exciting trips. Kelly is a very active individual, and is planning on running a half-marathon here in May. She loves the outdoors, especially the mountains, which is why Kelly chose to leave her Midwest home of Ohio and come to school here in Denver. Colorado’s emphasis on going green and helping the environment is also a major point that convinced Kelly Denver was the place to go to college and achieve her dream of saving the environment.
As a science major, she doesn’t particularly love writing, but enjoys research writing more than rhetorical writing as it is more of a concrete concept. In addition to researching, Kelly enjoys reading, and her most recent find is the book The Alchemist. She doesn’t watch much TV as she doesn’t have a TV in her room, which also helps reduce her carbon footprint and gives her more time to spend on the things she loves doing outdoors. She loves going to concerts and enjoys jam bands such as Phish.
Cayla Jewett was born and raised in Ohio. When not at school, she lives with her mom, who she no qualms calling her best friend. They are planning to move to Milwaukee this summer, although the final plans have not been settled.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up, Cayla worked very hard as a gymnast, practicing for years up until only a year ago. Her experiences with this taught her some very important life lessons. She learned how to push through and prevail during tough times, time management, and responsibility. Throughout her years as a gymnast, she met some amazing people and some of her best friends.
During her senior year of high school, she applied to the University of Denver on a whim. Upon receiving her acceptance letter and a wonderful scholarship for academics, she decided that she would visit the campus and see how it suited her. Once there, she immediately recognized how well it fit her. “It just felt right,” she explained.
Cayla is now pursuing a major in biochemistry. At present, she wishes to work as a doctor in a hospital, specifically working as a specialist with children. She is also minoring in business, giving herself a more well-rounded education.
She is excited to be attending school in Colorado because of the vast amounts of outdoors activities available. Both skiing and hiking are favorite pastimes of hers.
Cayla is also an avid reader. Whenever she gets a spare moment, she picks up her latest book. At the moment, she is enthralled with the Twilight series, but she enjoys suspense books as well, particularly those by Dean Koontz.
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ReplyDeleteMaryKate De Graw is not your typical DU student. She has three declared majors: English, Russian, and Economics, but says herself that she is “not that interested in the grades.” She has declared three majors so that she can take higher level courses in those three topics and says she wanted to declare a fourth major be that that is not allowed.
ReplyDeleteWhen questioned about her career plans MaryKate said that “ideally [she]’d like to do nothing, just sit around and read all day.” She loves to read. She enjoys the works of Thomas Hardy as well as many Russian authors. She also likes reading French literature. MaryKate realizes that the possibility of sitting around and reading all day is slim and says that her next career choice would be a college professor in arts and humanities because she “likes school more than most activities.”
MaryKate currently holds several of different jobs. She works at the Ritchie Center on campus, nannies for a professor’s son, and works at an inner-city public school on Fridays.
MaryKate has two older brothers, Michael and Aaron, and a younger sister, Rebecca. She is closest to Aaron who is in the Air Force and works as an accountant on the base in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
MaryKate’s father grew up in an Air Force family that moved from base to base all around the world. He met MaryKate’s mother in Saudi Arabia and after getting married they made the decision to give their kids a childhood that was less interrupted by moving than either of their own. They settled in a small town in southern Missouri where MaryKate spent her early years before moving briefly to St. Louis and then to a small town in south eastern Colorado.
Living in small towns for so long has lead to MaryKate’s love of them. She likes the familiarity and closeness of small towns. She likes the characters in small towns like that “kind of weird guy, John who sits outside of the coffee shop” with whom you can talk about anything with. MaryKate is already looking for a small town to live in when she graduates and is considering several in Canada.
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ReplyDeleteEmily Major is the oldest of eleven siblings and lives with her larger than normal family in Denver Colorado. Since she is the oldest of twelve children, she has always been the one in charge of babysitting her younger siblings. This has helped instill a unique lifestyle that would be mirrored in her pursuit of becoming a teacher.
ReplyDeleteEmily chose DU because she wanted to stay close to home and believed that DU was the best school in the state and had the strongest programs across the board. Emily is studying English and communications, a field she picked largely based on her love for writing. Emily believes that with a “good handle on words you can accomplish anything.” She also aims to acquire a master’s in education so that she can become a middle or high school teacher.
Emily has had prior experiences teaching children and continues to pursue this passion at DU through a program called Public Achievement, where she helps kids work on issues within their community. She also took two weeks of during high school to help work at a grade school. Emily’s experiences working with children have been both the most challenging and rewarding work she has ever done.
When Emily is not busy babysitting or working with children she enjoys listening to and playing music. She has played the piano since 1st grade, the flute since 6th grade, and the guitar since she was 14. She enjoys almost all music except for country and heavy metal. Some of her favorite bands are motion city soundtrack, the virgins, and vampire weekend. She also enjoys dabbling in photography and is a member of the DU photography club. Emily’s babysitting experiences has led her to pursue a career as a teacher and she has chosen DU as the University to help her achieve her dreams.
-Jenna Pettinger is the oldest of three siblings. She has one sister and one brother. At home she lives with both of her parents. Her father’s family was very Irish catholic. She was raised very Catholic which has shaped who she is. Her catholic faith is essential to her life values (and her relationship to Christ). Jenna’s Conversion in 9th grade was the turning point in her life and her faith. Her love of people and her desire to help them has shaped her career aspirations. Ideally Jenna would like to spend a few years abroad doing missionary work and settle in and become nonprofit helping people. DU was chosen as a fall back school. After she lost the Boetcher scholarship and was rejected by several IV leagues she made her decision to attend DU over Notre Dame. At DU Jenna chose to be a sociology major because it is a major that covers a lot of career possibilities and her father was engineer and she wanted to be different. Jenna is very involved at DU and participates in the Pioneer leadership program. Through that program she volunteers in the Bridge project. The Bridge project goes into low incoming housing projects and makes a building into a place where underprivileged kids can go and work on homework and find mentors to help break the cycle of poverty. Jenna’s favorite activity though is her involvement in FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students).
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ReplyDeleteJenn Vernick, a Massachusetts native, is quick to list a number of reasons for choosing the University of Denver. For one, she says there’s not much to do in her home state. She cites prior work experience at a bakery in Lexington as an activity. “Where’s Lexington?” one may ask, a question answered simply with the response, “a suburb of Boston.” Despite the boredom she feels, even in Boston, Jen Vernick is full of fun facts about her hometown of Lexington. Did you know that the first battle of the revolutionary war was waged in Lexington? Neither did I, until she told me.
ReplyDeleteJenn would also cite her family as a reason she ended up in Denver. Her older sister goes to the University of Vermont, but Jenn knew that was not the place for her. She knew she belonged in the western part of the country, not on the east coast, so she began looking into schools in the Rocky Mountain area. Having spent her previous five summers in Wyoming, she had her sights set on veterinary school there. Her mother, a landscape designer in Lexington, had different ideas and did not allow Jenn to go to school in Wyoming. The rest of her family consists of her father, who installs laptops into police cars.
Now at DU, Jenn is a Biology major and is pursuing the degree in order to become a large animal vet. She thinks it would be cool to work with animals at the zoo such as lions and tigers, but her real passion is horses. Unfortunately, Jenn hates the biology program here at DU and would like to transfer out of it. To make up for the academic misfortune she has experienced, Jenn is involved in club hockey. While she admits to not being very good, she is proud of the progress she’s made and the fun times she has while playing with her team.
In her leisure time, Jenn likes to hang out and enjoy Colorado. She loves to ski, and has gone a few times this year, but didn’t get a pas because she didn’t feel as though she could justify the cost. To entertain herself, Jenn watches what she calls, “stupid humor movies.” She says one of the more recent ones she has seen was I Love You, Man and she reports having enjoyed it. Jenn likes most music except for what she identifies as “hardcore screamo” and likes artists such as Slightly Stoopid and Kottomouth Kings. Jenn also enjoys to read, her most recent literary undertaking being The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, a memoir by Bill Bryson detailing his upbringing in Des Moines, Iowa during the 1950s and 1960s.
An ambitious freshman at the University of Denver (DU), Matt Ritz holds himself to high standards. At the age of seven, Matt struggled to understand and accept his parents’ divorce, but he says that overcoming this difficult time helped him to become stronger and deeply impacted the person he is today. The youngest of five children, Matt also watched his older siblings make some mistakes and is determined to prove to himself and to others that “it doesn’t have to be the whole family” and that he can be successful. “I want to be able to look back on my career when I retire and have a sense of accomplishment,” he says. To achieve this, Matt is currently majoring in biology and hopes to attend medical school and become an orthopedic surgeon.
ReplyDeleteDU was not Matt’s first choice for college, but after being rejected or wait-listed at several other schools, he ended up in Denver and is very happy with the result. At DU, he is a member of the honors program and lives on the honors floor in his residence hall. He played intramural broomball and hopes to play on the club lacrosse team. In his spare time, Matt likes to attend DU hockey games and spend time with friends. He also enjoys classic rock music, adventure novels, and comedy and action films. He is excited for the journey of self-discovery that he anticipates during his time at DU and throughout the rest of his life.
Kathryn Palma from Highlands Ranch, CO, believes that a family connection is very important. She has a younger sister, Samantha, 12, who is very different than she is. Samantha is more athletic and worries more about what people think. Kathryn is close to her parents. Her mother was born in Taiwan; therefore, her family celebrates some traditional Chinese holidays. However, both of her parents are engineers which leaves Kathryn stuck in their expectations of her becoming one as well. Instead, she is studying biochemistry and math because these areas are set in stone and lack ambiguity. She finds it intriguing that “you can do a problem in different ways yet reach the same answer.” Her strongest areas of school have been science and math because it’s black and white with a specific answer. With this major, she wants to either do pre-med to become a pediatrician or become a high school teacher. The deciding factor could be having to spend four more years in college or not. Kathryn chose DU as her home because the school gave her a great scholarship and it was a place that was close enough to home yet some distance.
ReplyDeleteSince she was little, Kathryn has been involved in the church. Her level of involvement has increased over the past few years. On campus, she is part of the FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students), participates in a bible study, and goes to worship every Sunday. The values her faith has taught her have stuck with her through her life and are a large part of who she is now. One of her biggest values is knowledge. She believes that the “measure of someone’s intelligence can also be a measure of their character.” Education is a large part of who she is. Within the spectrum of education, Kathryn has a difficult time with writing because she doesn’t feel like she is a strong writer. Unlike math and science, there is no definite answer. However, it’s also this that she truly enjoys. Writing has no right or wrong answer and therefore lets the writer express how they truly feel.
Stephanie Franquemont was born and raised in Evergreen, CO, near the mountains, obviously, and she planns on staying near those same mountains after college. Even in addition to defining her past and future homes, the Rocky Mountain West also plays a part in Stephanie's hobbies, jobs, and career plans.
ReplyDeleteStephanie has worked every summer for five years in a boy scout camp, and she "loves working there". However, it is her other seasonal job that helped Stephanie determine her future career path. An avid skier, Stephanie works as one of the Ski Patrol in Loveland, CO; after observing the spontaneous health care that takes place, she decided she wanted to be an emergency room doctor.In fact, she is already an EMT.
With plans of being a doctor, it is logical that Stephanie is a biology major at DU, with minors in Chemistry, Math, and Spanish. She doesn't enjoy writing at all, because, as she says, "I have to work really hard" at it. She prefers lab reports to almost any other writing assignment simply for the fact that they are clear and straight to the point.
Beyond school, jobs, and hobbies, though, Stephanie herself is clear on what she wants and what she likes. From politics to religion, she likes certain aspects of different thoughts, but wont accept certain groups off-the-cuff because she doesn't agree with everything. A logical person, Stephanie does things with purpose and makes decisions as reasonably as possible. For example,Stephanie explained she liked Evergreen because it was the best of a mid-sized town with the best of an urban area near-by. Her twin sister, Maggie, just learned she liked the same after going to school in rural, rural Montana.
Fraternal twins, Stephanie and Maggie are different beyond their physical appearances and thier choice in locale for college. Maggie is very religious and holds strongly to the Catholic church while Stephanie does not. Despite their differences, however, Stephanie is very close to Maggie, as well as to her "a year and couple months" younger brother, John.
Sean McNiff comes from Little Rock, Arkansas, and grew up in a family of three children. He is the youngest, with an older brother and sister.
ReplyDeleteSean is a freshman at the University of Denver and, interested in international affairs, is currently aiming to major in either international studies or international business. A hardworking honors student, he is highly dedicated in everything he does.
For instance, Sean is especially passionate about community service. In his sophomore year of high school, he and a friend founded Top Soccer, a program that helps disabled young people from the ages of 4-22 become involved in playing soccer. This program began as a summer project, but by the time Sean graduated high school, grew to include over 200 people!
Sean is also a dedicated writer, but struggles, as do most of us, in staying focused on his work. "I enjoy writing quite a bit," he says, "but not always while I'm doing it." Many people agree that one of the hardest parts of writing is the struggle to avoid procrastination! Sean is occasionally subject to those typical college experiences, with massive papers to write in a single night. It's "the edge of insanity," he describes. However, after fighting to get through the work, he's usually pleased with the results.
On the lighter side, Sean enjoys music, and is interested in all genres except rap and country. A fan of the musicians Third Eye Blind, Procupine Tree, and 3, Sean also creates music of his own: He has been playing the guitar since he was thirteen.
At DU, Sean is also involved in DUGS, the DU Grilling Society, and looks forward to being the Grill Master next year. Additionally, he works as a student comptroller and is involved in DUPB, the Du Programs Board, and enjoys planning events for the hockey team.
Thank you all for writing such engaging profiles of each other. In a very short amount of time (and space) you all managed to convey quite a bit of compelling information and background about each other. Well done!
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