Where are they going?

English Majors - Class of 2009

Ryan Benson - I will spend a year teaching English as a second language to elementary school students in South Korea, after which I will return home and continue to pursue a career in editing/publishing.

Audrey Billhymer - I'm planning on moving back home to Chicago and hopefully finding a job. That's about as extensive as my future plans get.

Joanna Cullen - I have no definitive plans after graduation. This summer, I am planning on working somewhere in Northfield and using my free time to refine the screenplay I began writing during Ali Selim's Fall 2008 screenwriting course. Though I'd love to pursue writing as a career, I don't currently want to go back to school just yet. Ideally, I'd love to work at St. Olaf, so that I can share my love for the St. Olaf community and the life opportunities that community provided for me during my four years here.

Lauren Gaines - I will be moving to New Zealand to work for a year, and after that, who knows? I certainly don't.

Connie Goedtke - I'm graduating this year with a major in English, Sociology/Anthropology and will be getting a license in middle and high school English. Next year first semester I will be student teaching at Field Middle School in Minneapolis. I will be working with 7th graders. After I get my license in December I plan to look for middle school English teaching positions in either Minnesota or Arizona. In the future I plan to go back to school to get a license in ESL education and eventually go back for my master's in education. That's the general plan as of now. This summer I am waitressing and working for the Upward Bound program on campus.

Erika Greiner - I am interning at Northfield News this summer. Still looking for a job.

David Horne - I have received the Rimbach Teacher Award from St. Olaf and will be teaching English at the Martin Luther Schule in Rimbach, Germany for 11 months. The school is a gymnasium with students ages 10-19, and the program dates back to 1948 here at St. Olaf. The award provides a monthly stipend as well as travel expenses.

Heidi James - After spending the summer here in Northfield, I'll be working through Americorps for Minneapolis Public Schools as a writing tutor/mentor for 5th and 6th graders.

Erin Kelly - My plans... well with the job market the way it is, I'll probably be looking for a job, tending bar to make ends meet, and using my jobless downtime to write.

Ross Lambrecht - I have no concrete plans yet, which is exactly how I want it. I'm in contact with the artistic director of Vesturport Theatre in Reykjavik, Iceland, and may go there for an internship later this year. I also will likely have an Assistant Directing internship at the Guthrie Theatre this winter working with Gary Gisselman on The Christmas Carol. At this time, those are the only two potential projects on my horizon. My only other plans are to move to the cities, find a job, and just take life as it comes for a little while.

Ben McNeill - I got a Freeman Foundation Student-Faculty Fellowship to study museums in Japan in late July/early August this summer with three other students and Professor Tegtmeyer Pak from the political science department. After that, I hope to teach English in China for a few years. Hopefully in that time I will learn enough Chinese to return to the US and either translate or teach Chinese.

Sam Mariotti - I want to land some steady income for a while. I'm also a filmmaker and screenwriter and worked closely with Ali Selim as his teaching assistant. He's been helping me write a few spec scripts (sample scripts for shows already in syndication) and when the day comes, I'm headed to Los Angeles to talk to Ali's friends and contacts, show off my scripts and fulfill my dream of writing for TV.

Sarah Miller - Next year I will be working for the Women's Funding Network in San Francisco, CA through Lutheran Volunteer Corps. After that it's (hopefully) on to graduate school to study Creative Writing.

Rachel Ose - I'm doing Teach for America in the Twin Cities. I'll be teaching high school English at Higher Ground Academy in St. Paul.

Damaya Riddley - This summer I will be going to graduate school. I will be attending Hamline University pursing the Masters of Education program. I begin June 9, 2009.

Sarah Rogers-Tanner - In July I will be heading to Japan to teach English through the JET program. After spending a year or two there I will come back to America to enter some sort of higher education. The ultimate goal for me is to become a teacher of some kind, but how that will happen is still unclear. I may simply get an MEd. to teach elementary school, or I may get an MFA in something, or I might get a PhD in philosophy and linguistics at MIT and steal all of Noam Chomsky's knowledge (so I can give it to the children!). We shall see.

Andrew Rollins - This summer I’ll be interning at 826 Boston, a branch of 826 National, a youth “creative and expository writing center,” founded by Dave Eggers. I’ll do pretty much everything from hobnobbing with donors to tutoring the youth to working at the Greater Boston Bigfoot Research Institute store. I’ll try to soak up as much additional “culture” as I can in my free time – sneak into some Harvard or MIT classes, boo the Red Sox, chill with Barney Frank. Post-summer, who knows what comes – maybe I’ll make like Thoreau and head into the woods.

Claire Rosenkvist - My life plans after graduating with majors in English and Art History at St. Olaf are currently undefined. However, my dreams include: getting an internship at The Guthrie Theater, going back to school to get an MFA in Theater or an MA, PhD in Dramaturgy, and spending more time in Europe. I also cannot wait to spend more time reading for pleasure (and my own scholarship).

Other "out-there" dreams include:

  • Someday winning an Academy Award for costume design or directing
  • Volunteering or working at a zoo with otters
  • Dancing (ballet, contra, and ballroom styles)
  • Learning to play the harp (and guitar; both require learning how to read music again...)
  • Traveling around the world (I hope to visit India, parts of Asia, Australia, Egypt and Greece).
  • Try being a professor at a private university
  • Running for a seat in the US Senate
  • Seriously consider going to seminary to become a pastor
  • And maybe--maybe--helping at an archaeological dig

Bryan Runck - I'm going to be looking for an English teaching position in the metro area. I have a few bites, but we'll see how it all turns out.

Johanna Rupprecht - For the next two years I will be earning my master's degree in the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Eventually, I hope to be a reference or readers' services librarian at a small-town public library in Minnesota.

Amy Sack - Next year I'm working on the MN Reading Corps, an Americorps program. I'm helping K-3 students who are targeted as behind in reading.

Laura Schmiedicke - I currently plan to take a year off from school, and hopefully find work in my hometown of Madison, Wisconsin. Once I have revived my academic spirit, I hope to earn a degree in Library Science.

Robyn Turnblom - I'm pursuing a career in marketing at a company called VisionShare, Inc.

Catie Tuttle - I'm heading back to Upstate New York for the summer where I will (with luck) lifeguard and start to read all of the books I wanted to in college. In September, if my visa goes through, I plan on pursuing a Maters degree in Infomation Science at City University in London. After that, I intend to become a real, live librarian, hopefully at a university and quite possibly in the UK.

Aimee Weinlander - My future includes a dental degree that I will be beginning this August. After that, I may specialize in orthodontia or another area of oral health care. Following that, I will go on to become extremely successful in my field, marry the love of my life and have an adoring family, though possibly not in that order. I will retire after having enjoyed a fruitful life and, in my dotage, drive a pink convertible and take up flying one-person planes.

Carolyn Wesley - I used to hate it when I'd tell people I was an English major and they'd ask if I wanted to teach or to write. As if I don't have other options! For now, though, I will be teaching: high school English in Connecticut through Teach for America. It's sure to be an exciting and challenging experience. I'm glad to be heading home to New England, close to my home in Vermont, but I will miss the wonderful connections I've made here in Minnesota.