Meet English Major Katie Wooten ’22

Hometown: Thomasville, North Carolina

Major and minors: English Major with Minors in Secondary Education and Classical Studies

Highlights of your time at Wake: Academically, my best memories center around the Writing Center and research that arose out of my time there. From scrabble nights with some incredible colleagues to interrogating why creative writers don’t use the Center enough (and should use it more—come see us in ZSR426!), I’ve found great community and support through the WC. I’ve also had great times in some really fun classes, like Prof. Whitehead’s CRW poetry workshop that got me through 2020, both of Dr. Alford’s incredible poetry classes, and learning how to 3D print in Dr. Lee’s Sci-Fi Lit. class! But aside from that, every single moment I’ve spent in the Wake Marching Band has been a highlight. I’ve had a lot of cool opportunities through it like traveling to NYC for the Pinstripe bowl, conducting the band as one of the drum majors, and getting to make music with my favorite people in the world.

Post-grad plans: I am hoping to land in a graduate program (fingers crossed for PhD) to study English Lit with a focus on contemporary American poetry. But I’m also graduating with a teaching license and will be qualified to help high schoolers find a love for literature after I complete my student teaching in the Spring of 2022. Whether I’m a student or teacher, I will definitely be in a classroom come Fall of 2022.

Why you majored in English: Majoring in English was the easiest choice I’ve ever made. I love the way that literature can connect, inspire, teach, entertain, and help us. The conversations I’ve had and relationships I’ve built with classmates and professors through the medium of the texts we study are what I’ll remember most about academics here at Wake. Importantly, the English discipline teaches you logistical and practical things like rhetoric, grammar, and comprehension, but it also teaches you how to be a good human and how to listen to the stories and thoughts of those around you, as well as how to tell your own.