AYA and English Education Major
I chose Heidelberg because it was the perfect local small-town fit. I was able to affordably commute from home and get the individual attention I needed from professors.
I majored in AYA English Education and English Education because Heidelberg enabled me to do both, and having an education background as I continue on to graduate school will help me fulfill my career goal of collegiate education.
A major challenge I encountered while at Heidelberg was allowing life outside of school to impact my performance within school. I handled this by communicating honestly with my professors about what I was going through and formulating strategies for personal improvement and keeping education first. Credit to all of my professors for building relationships with me that were personal enough for me to be able to communicate these challenges without fear or shame.
Above all, Heidelberg prepared me to solve problems. Although not every problem I have had to solve as a student has been an intentionally planned learning opportunity, I have better conflict resolution and problem-solving skills through a variety of experiences across multiple disciplines both inside and outside of the classroom.
Outside of the classroom, I was involved in Marching Band, Jazz Band, Pit Band for both the community and Heidelberg theater, Anime Club, Math Camp, and the Reading To Learn Tutoring program.
My favorite extra-curricular activity was the Reading To Learn program - it was the most eye-opening. Getting to work with students from Botswana was not only fun because of the cultural exchange taking place, but it improved my student teaching experience through newly learned strategies for vocabulary acquisition in English as a Second Language students. Shout-out to Bakang and Ambrocia!
One faculty or staff mentor or advisor who impacted my ‘Berg experience is Dr. Barry Devine. Dr. Devine is the king of probing questions that prompt further thinking, and on the rare occasion he is not able to help me make a new literary connection himself, he is able to communicate it and model how he reached his understanding effectively. Although I have not loved every piece of writing he has ever assigned, I have learned something from all of them. He has challenged and driven me outside of my comfort zone not just as a literature student, but as a thinker overall, and I would not be graduating if it were not for him.
My advice to new freshman me would be use the Brenneman basement lounge. It has a fridge, a microwave, bathrooms, a couch with blankets and pillows, and just might be the least trafficked place on campus. It is an excellent place to get work done or just relax and eat some food.
My favorite Heidelberg memory is in a student teaching course, the class had to pretend to be first graders so a fellow student could teach us a lesson. When the vocabulary term for "prism" came up, I said "My dad is in Prism" and made the student teacher laugh so hard he cried, before telling me we would be talking after class.
My plans after graduation are to attend Ball State University in the Master's English Literature program, which I knew about because a representative met with the Sophomore Studies in English course my sophomore year.