English Major Jobs and Graduate School Acceptances 2019

English class

English class

stout limestone photo

 

Rebecca Stout

Majors: English, history
Hometown: Dallas, Pennsylvania
Graduate School: Columbia University
Field of study: American studies

How has Dickinson prepared you for life after graduation?

The opportunities Dickinson has provided have undoubtedly changed my view on the world around me and my ability to make a difference. Dickinson has made me a much more confident, knowledgeable and understanding person. Dickinson has challenged me and taught me how to face those challenges.

What are you most anticipating about your career or postgraduate pursuits?

I am most excited about continuing my research at Columbia in the fall!

What are some of the defining moments of your Dickinson experience?

Working on my honors thesis for history and being involved in archival research through the House Divided Project have been some of my most defining moments at Dickinson. Not only did I find a great adviser through these opportunities, but I also made close friends and began working on the research that I plan to continue in graduate school.

Internship Experience

  • REACH! (September 2016 - present, Carlisle)
  • College community relations intern (September 2017 - May 2018, Carlisle)
  • House Divided (June 2018 - August 2018 and February 2019 - present, Carlisle)
 

 

mcgovern limestone photo

 

Paul McGovern

Majors: English, Spanish
Hometown: Methuen, Massachusetts
Employer: MLB Network
Job title: Blogger and production assistant

Job Responsibilities

Assist in the production of the programming for MLB Network.

What are you most anticipating about your career or postgraduate pursuits?

I look forward to pursuing a career in sports media at MLB Network.

What are some of the defining moments of your Dickinson experience?

I think some of my times spent in Professor Jacob Sider Jost's classroom, as well as with the club soccer team.

Internship Experience

Phillips Andover administrative intern

blosser limestone photo

 

David Blosser

Major: English
Hometown: Jefferson, Pennsylvania
Employer: Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO)
Job title: special events and development intern

How has Dickinson prepared you for life after graduation?

Dickinson has provided me with a myriad of opportunities, all for which I am incredibly grateful and express my sincere thanks. Coming from a small town in southwestern Pennsylvania, I was apprehensive to make the transition to college even though Dickinson was only three and a half hours away from home. As I reflect on my four years, however, I have discovered that there was no reason to be nervous. Dickinson is truly a loving, supportive and intellectual community comprised of individuals who harbor a deep passion for their work, their scholarship and their professional pursuits. I have spoken with individuals who come from many different backgrounds—peers who aspire to be teachers, policymakers, artists, activists, politicians, scientists, doctors, and so many other professions that work toward the common good. Through these treasured and stimulating conversations, I have been challenged to view issues and problems from multiple angles and perspectives, in ways that include those communities who are often left out of the discourse. All of these conversations have challenged me to reexamine my own assumptions and worldviews, while prompting me to recognize my own privileges. I can honestly say that these personal and intellectual relationships have fundamentally shaped the person I am today and the person I hope to be in the future.
   
Dickinson has provided me with the toolbox to think critically, lead and serve inclusively and act boldly. My four years have also inspired me to embrace complexity in ways that will benefit those around me and the society at large. In one, albeit rather long, sentence: Dickinson has harbored within me a deep passion for social justice, while also inspiring me to join in the fight to ensure that all people have a place at the table.

What are you most anticipating about your career or postgraduate pursuits?

I am looking forward to working at a performing arts organization whose mission is to ensure the cultural vibrancy of the community in which it is situated. I firmly believe the arts have the ability to strengthen relationships, deepen human empathy and provide different ways into viewing and understanding the world. At the same time, I think the arts challenge us to look honestly at our own lives and others', prompting us to reexamine, feel and act. Dickinson's globally-minded and ambitious attitude has instilled within me a lifelong desire to share the artistic achievements indicative of the diverse world in which we live. Whether I'm working in a marketing or development-related position, or working my way up to president of a theater company (that day is yet to come!), I'm eager to celebrate the beautiful cultures of our world with all of you. It's time we center the stories, voices and histories of all people; it's time we share the microphone.

What are some of the defining moments of your Dickinson experience?

First and foremost, the relationships I have made are truly at the heart of my Dickinson experience. To my fellow Dickinsonians, thank you for challenging me, for inspiring me and for supporting me. Because of you, I am encouraged to make my own community a better place, just as you have made me a better person. In addition to these lifelong friendships, I am thankful for so many things: founding DiscipleMakers Christian Fellowship on campus; singing with the Infernos co-ed cappella group and working as its marketing manager; serving as a committee member for the Vice President of Student Life search; working as a media center assistant and learning from my peers' intellectual and personal projects; serving as the student intern in the Office of Marketing and Communications; developing a lifelong love for English literature and writing through the Department of English; serving the Carlisle community by volunteering with local organizations and teaching Sunday school at Carlisle United Methodist Church; studying abroad in the U.K. for a summer; and finally, for having the opportunity to attend a nationally-recognized liberal arts college as a first-generation college student. My time at Dickinson has truly been some of the greatest years of my life, and I will always hold these memories very close to my heart.

Internship Experience

During the summer of 2018, I interned at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. There, I served as the advertising communications intern. In my role, I conceptualized, wrote, built, routed and deployed email marketing campaigns; I researched artists and wrote copy for collateral ranging from print ads and direct mail pieces to produced radio spots for both the Kennedy Center and Metropolitan Opera; I developed and maintained informative copy across the Kennedy Center website; and finally, I worked daily to build and maintain relationships internally with Kennedy Center staff, but also externally with donors, patrons and producers. As an aspiring performing arts administrator, this internship enabled me to explore the inner-workings of a fast-paced arts and cultural organization. At the same time, this internship provided me the experience to work with the community and ensure that all members have an equal opportunity to participate in and understand the transformative power of the performing arts. This internship at the Kennedy Center was truly a lifelong dream come true.

Ethan Warrick

Major: English
Hometown: Herndon, Virginia
Employer: Aerotek
Job title: recruiter

Job Responsibilities

I will be a full-time recruiter and sales trainee at Aerotek, providing all recruiting and staffing needs for our clients.

How has Dickinson prepared you for life after graduation?

It has given me a wide range of skills that are applicable to nearly any professional field I would want to venture into.

What are you most anticipating about your career or postgraduate pursuits?

I am looking forward to using the skills that I have acquired through my liberal arts education in a field that I will be basically completely new to.

What are some of the defining moments of your Dickinson experience?

Playing football for four years and completing my senior Thesis for English.

Kelly O'Connor

Majors: English, psychology
Hometown: Pennington, New Jersey
Graduate School: Virginia Commonwealth University
Field of study: counselor education

Internship Experience

Carlisle Autism School.

Kienan Dixon

Major: English
Hometown: Upland, California
Graduate School: Syracuse University Newhouse School of Public Communications
Field of study: broadcast and digital journalism with a sports communications emphasis

How has Dickinson prepared you for life after graduation?

As a member of the Red Devil Sports Network, I was able to gain valuable and relevant experience that has prepared me for the next step in the pursuit of a career in sports broadcasting. While also playing football, I learned essential skills in time management that will prepare me for the rigors of graduate school and life after that.

What are you most anticipating about your career or postgraduate pursuits?

I look forward to covering sports for years to come. The ability to be a member of RDSN while still playing football and receiving a top-tier education was unparalleled.

What are some of the defining moments of your Dickinson experience?

Although not an on-campus experience, during the summer of 2016, I was granted a press pass to the U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, Calif., where I spent 10 days covering the best surfers in the world. Hanging out with legends of the sport as a member of the media was something that will forever stick with me, and it was only made possible by the inspiration that I had while taking a journalism course.

Michaela Zanis

Majors: law & policy, English
Hometown: Seltzer, Pennsylvania
Graduate School: Penn State Dickinson School of Law
Field of study: law

How has Dickinson prepared you for life after graduation?

Dickinson's focus on the importance of a well-written research papers, of asking questions and challenging injustice gave me the skills necessary to stand out in the law school admissions process which ultimately takes me one step closer to my goal of becoming a lawyer.

What are you most anticipating about your career or postgraduate pursuits?

Taking what I learned as a Dickinsonian and challenging the legal system to become more inclusive and advocating for children's rights.

What are some of the defining moments of your Dickinson experience?

Joining the mock trial team, interning in Judge Guido's office, becoming the co-chair of the Policy Studies Majors Committee and attending Accepted Students Day on behalf of the department, along with taking classes in the Department of English where I could take my love for the law and use the skills I learned from my professors to write a legal critique of literature that we read.

Internship Experience

I interned at the Center for Rural Pennsylvania where I compiled data on all of the counties in Pennsylvania to be published for the state legislative branch. I interned in the Schuylkill County District Attorney's Office where I completed discovery requests, took notes on trials, and assisted attorneys with case preparation. I interned in Congressman Cartwright's District Office where I worked as a Veteran's Affairs Intern and assisted with other constituent services. I interned in the Office of President Judge Edward E. Guido where I took notes on trials and conducted research for my honors thesis on the dependency system.

Talia Cantor

Major: English
Hometown: Ramsey, New Jersey
Graduate School: National Theater Institute
Field of study: acting, directing and playwriting

What are you most anticipating about your career or postgraduate pursuits?

The National Theater Institute is extremely intensive, and I know my time there will give me the experience needed for a career in theater arts and arts administration.

What are some of the defining moments of your Dickinson experience?

When I decided to become an English major, that is when my entire Dickinson experience changed. I'm so proud to have been an English major. This major opened so many doors for me. I had a chance to study what I'm passionate about, and being an English major helped me realize what it was that I wanted to pursue after graduation.

Internship Experience

The Tank Theater in New York City - summer internship

Sally Madigan

Major: English
Hometown: Alexandria, Virginia
Employer: Achievement First
Job title: teacher in residence

Job Responsibilities

Co-teaching with a head teacher.

How has Dickinson prepared you for life after graduation?

It has given me great public speaking skills.

What are you most anticipating about your career or postgraduate pursuits?

I am very excited to be a teacher.

What are some of the defining moments of your Dickinson experience?

All of my courses and my abroad experiences.

Internship Experience

Anti-Defamation League legislative assistant.

Emily Bartholet

Major: English
Hometown: Woodbine, Maryland
Employer: Urban Teachers (AmeriCorps)
Job title: resident
Graduate School: Johns Hopkins University 
Field of study: educational studies

Job Responsibilities

I will be a teaching resident in Baltimore City Public Schools next year while I work towards a master's in education. My master's degree will take two years to earn. I will also spend the next three years after my residency teaching in Baltimore City Public Schools while receiving coaching from Urban Teachers. It hasn't been decided exactly which of their teaching programs I'll be in; however, I'm hoping to teach secondary literacy.

How has Dickinson prepared you for life after graduation?

Getting a liberal arts education encouraged me to make connections between my classes, and the process of making those connections encouraged me to think critically about each and every one of those classes. Critical thinking skills are important in any field, but they are particularly useful in a field where it's my job to teach other people (i.e. my students) critical thinking skills.

What are you most anticipating about your career or postgraduate pursuits?

I look forward to becoming a teacher.

What are some of the defining moments of your Dickinson experience?

Making it into the study abroad program at Mansfield College, University of Oxford, was a defining moment for me. I screamed when I got that email.

Internship Experience

I was an editorial intern with The Paragon Journal, an online literary magazine, where I wrote blog posts, used Photoshop to create graphics advertising the magazine, solicited and evaluated submissions and corresponded through email with writers, the heads of MFA programs and the department chairs of undergraduate creative writing departments. I was also an intern with the Downtown Carlisle Association, where I wrote articles about stores, historical features and community events in Carlisle. These articles will be published in the 2019 issue of the Downtown Carlisle Information Guide.

TAKE THE NEXT STEPS

Published April 3, 2019