Current students
Kianna
Year: Senior
Major: English
Minor: Communication and legal studies (pre-law track)
I love being an English major because nothing beats writing down ideas, stories, and even essays on a page. Through my English classes, I have taken my experience beyond myself and now explore the ideas and literature of the past. Through experience, I learned to advocate for myself and have become an even better writer and student.
In my spare time I aim to uplift women in my role as innovative programming chair in Women of Color as well as being secretary in the Minority Association for Future Attorneys. I also work on campus at the Bruce D. Nesbitt African American Culture Center as a programming intern. I take pride in being a student at Illinois, but more importantly a lover of the arts.
Joy
Year: Junior
Major: English and Creative Writing
I’ve always loved reading and writing and knew that I wanted to pursue both those topics academically. I was nervous about going to college at a school with a population over three times that of my hometown, but the smaller size of the English department helped that transition.
This year I’ll be working as one of the newsletter writers for the English Student Association. I’m also exploring my different interests in writing and literature; I intend to focus on a fiction track in my Creative Writing major, with an interest in weird fiction, and I’m still taking a variety of classes for my English major.
In my free time, I also enjoy exercising with the Cross Country and Women’s Rugby clubs, playing video games (badly), and knitting (less badly)! I hope to go into the publishing industry after graduation.
Sophia
Year: Senior
Major: Creative Writing and Global Studies
Minor: German
I am also pursuing the certificate in environmental writing and am a communications intern for the Institute of Sustainability, Energy, and Environment. My passion for storytelling is central to what I do, from crafting short stories in my creative writing classes to exploring how narratives shape our understanding of the world in my student organization involvements.
My workshop classes in the Creative Writing Program have been pivotal to my understanding of myself as a writer and reading my peers’ work is a constant source of insight and discovery. As Editor-in-Chief of the Green Observer magazine and Media Officer for Students for Environmental Concerns (SECS), I’m working on blending creativity with purpose, using writing as a tool for environmental advocacy.
Outside of academics, I find inspiration in nature, music, and travel — often drawing on these experiences to inform my writing. I play trumpet and piano, and I love discovering new places and perspectives through hiking and thrifting.
Nyx
Year: Senior
Major: English
Minors: Gender and Women's Studies and African American Studies
I am a transfer student from Triton College majoring in English with a concentration in race, indigeneity, gender, and sexuality. I developed an interest in English studies because I enjoy analyzing the way language functions to tell stories! I aspire to harness my intellectual curiosities and composition skills.
In my free time, I love creating art. I have been the social media chair and researcher for the McKinley Health Center’s Sexual Health Peers. My poetry can be found in the Beyond the Margin Issue of the Ebony Tomatoes Collective, The Montage Arts Journal, and the Sanctuary Issue of the Pink Slip Zine. I am currently a member of BlacQ and PizzaFM. This year I will be interning at the Gender & Sexuality Resource Center as a campus engagement intern.
With my English studies, I’d like to have a thriving career as a freelance writer and partake in community initiatives to promote sexual health.