Alexa O'Kane

Haiva Askari

How did the AHEAD program go for you in your first year? 

It was amazing. I got to explore the Burlington community, learned how to use the public transport, and did a lot of other things like building a resume that would help me later on.

How has the AHEAD program supported your journey at Champlain? 

I’m close friends with so many of the people I spoke to in AHEAD. I’m now best friends with one of them! The staff in charge of the program have continued supporting me since.

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Erika Brown

Specializations

Editing & Publishing/Creative Writing & Literature

How did you first hear about Champlain?

I first came to Champlain for the Champlain Young Writers’ Conference in 2015. It was my firsttime ever hearing about Champlain or visiting the campus. The conference was an opportunity to stay on campus for the weekend (I slept in Butler), go to workshops in the classrooms, and roam around the campus to explore it on my own time. We were able to eat in the dining hall, and I remember consuming a lot of pizza bagels that weekend!

What do you like about your major?

I love this program because it has allowed me to make incredible friends. I’ve never beensurrounded by people who had similar interests as I do. This writing community is constantly encouraging one another to read work, swap drafts, give critique, provide edDivision of Information Technology & Sciences, and help each other grow. We all have admiration for one another. We don’t see each other as competition, but as collaborators. I love being able to go into our Discord server and say “Hey, I’m not feeling confident in this draft. Could you all help me?”—and they do!

Have you worked on-campus in either a part-time or work-study position?

I’ve been working in Compass Student Services since my first year. When I started, it was theEnrollment Services Center. In the past few years, I’ve watched and helped build the Compass office into something more identifiable and resourceful for students.
In the summer of 2018, I was asked to join the Class of 2022’s Facebook page to help answer questions, concerns, and provide guidance on the Summer To-Dos. There’s a lot to be done before a student gets to campus, and it can be overwhelming and confusing. Then, I joined the Champlain Parents and Families Facebook Group. Parents tend to have more questions about what needs to be done, how to do it, and when it’s due. I started answering their questions, calming their concerns, and connecting them with the appropriate person if I couldn’t answer. That was two years ago, and I have a cult-like following with them. I am often their first point of contact and their primary resource. I love talking to them over the summer and getting to meet them during Orientation. Sometimes, parents will call the office and ask for me directly. I’ve had parents bring me flowers and cookies.
Nothing brings me greater joy than helping a student or a parent. For some, this is their first child going off to college. There is a lot of trust there, and I want students to love being at Champlain as much as I do.

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Cat Butrick

Specialization

Editing & Publishing

Internship

SolidarityWorks in Drugan, Bulgaria

What do you like about the Professional Writing program?

I love how practical all my classes are. We don’t just talk about theory; we actually implement the techniques we discuss. In the creative writing classes I’ve taken, we read poetry aloud; we act it out, and Jim Ellefson (who usually teaches these classes) shows us how to submit our own work. In almost every class I’ve taken, we create a tangible product that we can use in our careers.

How has the Upside-Down Curriculum enhanced your education?

The Upside-Down Curriculum is responsible for almost every single experience listed on my resume. I took six major-related classes my first year, so I was prepared to take on editorial roles at student publications or assume a campus leadership position much quicker-and more skillfully-than I would have at another school.My Core classes also really helped shape my interests. I came into Champlain wanting to be a developmental editor, but my relationship with one of my Core professors, Aziz Fatnassi, led me to an internship with a Bulgarian NGO where I learned I actually want to work in the nonprofit world.

How was your study abroad experience valuable as part of your overall education?

I studied abroad for two months in Sevilla, Spain during the Spring 2020 semester. Living with a host family really taught me how to communicate with others from different cultures and how to make connections with those who live a drastically different life than myself. Studying abroad also taught me how to be more outgoing and go after what I want. It taught me to let loose and have fun sometimes, and that life isn’t all about work.

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Amanda Girard

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Beck Natale

Piece of advice to students?

Make sure to take breaks. Working nonstop without any breaks will lead to burnout! Your health matters just as much as grades.

What's your favorite book, movie, or podcast?

Podcast: The Adventure Zone
Movie: Spider-Man: Into The Spiderverse

Inspirational Quote?

“Do good recklessly” – Magnus Burnsides

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Kunthea Relinski

Specialization

Screenwriting

Internship

ShareYourself in Burlington, VT

Favorite Class

Any class with Jim Ellefson!

What sets Champlain’s Professional Writing program apart from programs at other schools?

I think that the Professional Writing major at Champlain is greater in a sense because, at other schools, you can take Journalism as a major, or you can have a Creative Writing major, and nothing really encapsulates all of it. Here, you choose a specialization which you will focus in, but you get to take classes in every different aspect of writing. I think it is really helpful to be knowledgeable in all of it, because maybe down the line you want to change your career path, or you’re asked to do something that you didn’t focus on in school. But here, you get to learn about all of it and the professors really encourage you to defer outside of your comfort zone and take classes that you wouldn’t normally take. I don’t ever take any classes in editing and publishing because that’s not really my realm, but it’s good to know about technical writing and all the grammatical skills and things like that.

Can you tell us about The Grind?

The Grind is the weekly open mic that we have every Wednesday in Fireside Lounge. People can come do stand up, people can sing, people can read poetry. I have been the host for three years now. It’s a really good community to take a break from your work every Wednesday night, eat food, drink tea, and hang out with your friends. We are a welcoming community, and I think it’s given me a lot of confidence in myself as a person. I’ve fostered such a great community there, and everyone bolsters each other up no matter your ability and whatever you’re trying to perform. It’s just very encouraging and inclusive.
Every week I open the show with a set of three songs on my guitar, but other people do stand up, their own or something that they’ve seen on TV. A lot of people recite original poetry, stand up poems, spoken word, or just normal poetry. We have one person that plays the violin, some people bring their DJ decks and will play a set. We have a lot of variety. One person brings her saxophone sometimes.

What extracurriculars are you involved in?

I’m the Director of Communications for the SGA. The SGA is the Student Government Association, and my role as Director of Communications is to work with the President and the Vice President to make sure that we are communicating well with the student body, but also creating a really good relationship with the entire administration of Champlain. So, we promote different events on social media. A few weeks ago, I hosted a candy grams event where people could come into the office and interact with us, and we could send free candy for Valentine’s Day. We also tried to set up a giving tree for holidays where you can give back to our community in Burlington as a whole.
I love my role there because I get to interact both with the administration, the student body, and I get to work a lot internally with the SGA. Being on the SGA cabinet has taught me a lot about applying my writing skills to my position there. Being able to work with the community, to write letters to the community, work with social media. Being on SGA has really advanced all of the skills that I’m learning here and makes sure that I’m able to apply them well.

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Haley Seymour

Specialization

Journalism

Internship

Publishing Hub Project through the Emergent Media Center

What extracurricular activities are you involved in? What do you do/why do you enjoy them?

I am currently the Editor-in-Chief of The Crossover, the online student newspaper at Champlain. It can be a lot of work at times, but it is very rewarding. I have a strong passion for journalism, as well as providing the truth and information to people who need it. I also love writing for The Crossover and enjoy discussing what’s going on at Champlain with my other staff members.

What projects have you worked on in classes that you’ve found particularly rewarding?

I really enjoyed working on The Well through my Magazine Publishing class. We actually published an online magazine, and it felt so good to see it come together at the end of the semester.I loved participating in The Well because Magazine Publishing was set up more like a newsroom rather than a class. Of course, we still had assignments and everything, but we all worked together to achieve one final goal: the magazine. I was delegated as a writer for the team, and I got to work with the editing team frequently to make sure my pieces were the best they could be. There were three teams: editing, writing, and design/marketing. We all had different tasks, and we knew how to use the other teams to complete those tasks. I feel like I genuinely know how teams work when publishing a magazine after taking that class.

How did your classroom work prepare you for your internship experience?

I was involved with the Publishing Hub Project through the Emergent Media Center during the spring 2021 semester. Our goal was to inform and get more people across campus involved with student-run publications like The Crossover, Chivomengro, and Willard and Maple. We spent time gathering information about who is currently involved with the publications, who knows nothing about them, and who wants to be involved but doesn’t know-how. From there, we devised a strategy to get publications more widely known around campus.Tanya Lee Stone asked me to take part in this project because of the work I had done so far in college, including my position at the Editor-in-Chief of The Crossover. My classroom work also allowed me to better understand different types of writing, as well as understanding deadlines and necessities for my work, allowing me to be a better intern.

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Erika Skorstad

Specialization

Creative Writing & Literature

Internship

Study Breaks Magazine, San Antonio, TX (remote) and GenZ Publishing (remote)

What do you like about your program?

I’ve had many incredible experiences in the Professional Writing program. The wide variety of writing classes I’ve taken have allowed me to hone in on what I’d like to do in the future; Publishing in the 21st Century has provided me insight into the many different paths and jobs in publishing. For my Capstone project, I’m curating a food-themed literary magazine. I feel that I can do this because I have that extra understanding of the publishing process and Division of Information Technology & Sciences roles. Through my interactive narrative classes, I’ve created an interactive mystery experience that takes place across multiple media platforms. Not only have these projects provided me with valuable experience, but they also make excellent portfolio pieces.

What’s your favorite Core experience?

For my music class in Dublin, we sang traditional Irish songs and played instruments-my favorite was the tin whistle. We even attended performances in pubs. For the final, my boyfriend and I sang a duet of “Falling Slowly” from the Irish movie Once.

Have you worked on-campus in either a part-time or work-study position? What relevant life skills have you learned?

I work as a staff writer for the CCM News Hub and Weathervane. In this position, I’ve had the chance to interview people and practice active listening and sniffing out a story. With the articles I write for Weathervane, I’ve learned to adhere to tight deadlines. I’ve sharpened my communication skills; in addition to communicating with professors and students I interview, I work closely with the managing editor and editor in chief of Weathervane on revisions and ideas about the direction of the magazine. Now, I’m more comfortable collaborating with others, regardless of hierarchies.

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