By Maddie Urbano, Guest Columnist
I have loved writing for as long as I can remember. My first writing memory is from when I was eight years old and my mom gave me her old, bulky Dell laptop; I wrote a story about a princess and saved it to the desktop. I would continue writing casually throughout my life, but it was not until I came to college that I got to fully explore my love of writing. This love of writing has been further developed through a variety of different forms of writing and has prepared me for my career prospects as I graduate from Gettysburg College.
While I did not declare my major right away, I always knew I wanted to employ my love of reading and writing in my studies and my eventual career. My first English course was an introduction to creative writing course fall of freshman year with adjunct professor Karen McElmurray. Professor McElmurray expanded my horizons greatly; I learned more about fiction writing and also encountered poetry and creative nonfiction in ways that I never had before. I enjoyed developing my own writing style by reading the work of different authors, but also by reading the work of my peers. Workshopping and sharing my work with my class played a significant role in figuring out who I was as a writer. This was my first real experience with receiving comments on my written work and reading my work aloud to a group. I got to give and receive critiques to the entire class, but also work in smaller cohorts of my classmates. Being the only freshman in the class, my 19-year-old self found workshops incredibly daunting. My now 22-year-old self realizes that they were immensely rewarding and exactly what I needed to break out of my shell. My first series of workshops showed me that writing is meant to be shared in order to be improved because no writing is perfect. There is always room for improvement. I learned a great deal in that creative writing class but also knew I had still so much to learn.
Throughout my college career, I continued to take writing courses that focused on cultivating specific skills, due to how much I loved trying my hand at distinct forms of writing. I learned how to write literary reviews with Professor Sobelle, short works of fiction with Professor Leebron, different forms of poetry with Professor Meyer, a screenplay with Professor Rhett, and even a 40-page academic thesis with my ever-supportive advisor, Professor Myers. Beyond the technical prowess that goes hand in hand with each type of writing, I took so much away from each of these classes: the ability to commit to long projects, the capacity to give and receive solid, constructive criticism, and a new-found appreciation for being creative and curious. It also felt so fulfilling to be around like-minded people; my peers adored the craft of writing as much as I did. They were always so kind to me, and we all wanted to support each other in order to become the best writers we could be.
The College also introduced me to a myriad of other genres of writing. I learned the specificity and concision of political science and public policy writing by analyzing political philosophy and writing policy briefs. I also learned of the succinct, scientific diction surrounding writing for the field of psychology by writing expansive research papers. I even further acquired the grammar to write essays in Spanish on specific cultures and countries. Through these distinct writing experiences, I discovered that not all writing is created equal. While I might have succeeded at writing a short fiction story or an adjective-filled paper on a novel, it took some time to gain my footing when writing papers surrounding abortion law and adolescent depression. Nonetheless, I am grateful for the multitude of opportunities that Gettysburg College has given me to expand my writing repertoire, and I cannot recommend enough that other students do the same as I have. It is the courses that you would never expect that help you to not only immerse yourself into a new field of study but also give you new-found writing and communication skills.
It has been through various forms of creative writing as well as the process of writing for different subjects that I have been able to narrow down my plans for after graduation. I do not have a job set in stone yet, but I know that I want to use my love for and skills surrounding writing to my advantage. I hope to write content for companies or websites so that they can spread their message clearly and succinctly. I’ve been told countless times by my parents and friends that the world needs more strong writers. While I may not be extremely well-versed in the technical, marketing-based writing I want to pursue in my career, I am confident that my education here at Gettysburg has prepared me to tackle whatever sort of writing is thrown my way.
