The best of my 2013 on the Hill

It’s not uncommon for students at any college to have their ups and downs every semester, and I’m no exception to this idea. But now that the year is coming to an end, I’m choosing, as always, to reflect on what was awesome about this year, including some of the best aspects of my time at McDaniel this 2013 calendar year.

• I lived with awesome suite mates my sophomore year and I live in a cool affinity house with some of those suite mates this school year. Living with people I enjoy and care about has made college a wonderful experience for me!

• I got to take some awesome classes. My favorites for 2013 were Rhetorical Approaches to Literary Nonfiction, Advanced Composition, Multimedia Authoring, and American Poetry. And of course, these classes were taught by awesome professors!

• I made the time to see a lot of interesting lectures in disciplines from math and pedagogy to political science to philosophy and to literature and culture. My favorite lectures of this calendar year were this spring’s Bothe Poetry Reading, in which poet Lia Purpura read poems from her collection King Baby aloud to a packed audience, and this fall’s Holloway Lecture, in which Dr. Carolyn Dinshaw talked about the relationship between medieval green men and contemporary gay culture.

• I got a job at McDaniel’s Writing Center! After taking a 2-credit course on peer tutoring pedagogy in the spring, I became qualified to work as a peer writing tutor. It’s a fun and rewarding job, and I enjoy the opportunity to work with students of all backgrounds and ability levels. I also have plenty of good times with my fellow peer tutors!

• I did cool stuff with the student organizations I’m a part of. I had another fun year of judging Contrast literary magazine submissions in the spring, and I stepped up my involvement with the McDaniel Free Press this fall, becoming the features editor of the paper and live-tweeting major campus events. I also had a lot of fun seeing the paper get back into print!

2013 was great for so many reasons. I had awesome new professors, met new friends and became closer to existing friends, and did as many fun things as feasibly possible. College goes by so fast, so I’m hoping to cram in as much fun into this next semester and my senior year.

Bring it on, 2014! I’m ready for ya!