{"id":2855,"date":"2017-08-23T22:49:20","date_gmt":"2017-08-23T22:49:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/edge\/?p=2855"},"modified":"2017-08-23T23:42:53","modified_gmt":"2017-08-23T23:42:53","slug":"charting-her-own-course-with-an-english-degree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/edge\/2017\/08\/23\/charting-her-own-course-with-an-english-degree\/","title":{"rendered":"Charting Her Own Course with an English Degree"},"content":{"rendered":"

Challenges and risks don\u2019t scare Monica Anderson (\u201917). As a track athlete at Oregon State, she competed in the steeplechase, the oft-overlooked yet grueling endurance race where runners leap over hurdles and a 12-foot water pit.<\/p>\n

And, Anderson changed her major to English.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started out in pre-veterinary science,\u201d she says. \u201cBecoming an English major was a risk. I had an incorrect idea that OSU was a science and engineering school. And I didn\u2019t think it would be practical to have a degree in English.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Monica

An English degree ignited a passion for writing and a global consciousness for Monica Anderson. Photo by Chris Becerra.<\/p><\/div>\n

But Anderson was passionate about reading and writing. The courses, from Latin American literature to Post-Humanism Theory, demanded an open, flexible mind and the ability to articulate herself in writing. They awakened a need for creative expression and helped fuel her interest in the world beyond the U.S. They helped make her a better ambassador for international and domestic students and a better teammate.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Not only that, the major made her braver. Anderson was the very first OSU student to sign up for an internship teaching children English in Vietnam.<\/p>\n

\u201cI only took English classes for one year before I went to Vietnam. The major empowered me to take chances and risks,\u201d she says. \u201cIt seemed too good to be true. I realized I could take English classes, travel the world and work with some of the smartest professors at Oregon State.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anderson spent the first half of her internship teaching English to secondary school students in a rural Vietnamese village and the second half \u2014 unexpectedly \u2014 as an English tutor and teaching assistant in Hanoi. The switch, due to visa complications, kept her nimble.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned a bit about how to navigate cultural differences, and I think I became more adaptable from that moment on,\u201d she says. \u201cThe personal and cultural challenges renewed my mindfulness and empowered me to do anything. And I never stopped running. That experience solidified my desire to teach English internationally after college.\u201d<\/p>\n

This past summer, she spent a month in the Peruvian highlands volunteering on a horse farm. This fall, she\u2019s traveling to Kenya to work as a tutor for the East African Scholar\u2019s fund, an organization that helps Kenya\u2019s brightest low- and middle-income students study for the SAT and TOEFL tests. The organization\u2019s students regularly get accepted at Ivy League universities in the U.S. Next, she plans to spend two years in the Peace Corps teaching English internationally.<\/p>\n

Contrary to her earlier thinking, she\u2019s found her English degree to be very practical.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are of course problems with romanticizing English as this language everyone needs,\u201d she says. \u201cBut in rural areas, kids who learn English have more opportunities when they\u2019re older.\u201d<\/p>\n

Afterward, the possibilities are endless. As Anderson contemplates careers and graduate school, she knows her degree means her writing and communications skills are in demand.<\/p>\n

And she\u2019s not afraid.<\/p>\n

-Story by Joe Donovan<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Challenges and risks don\u2019t scare Monica Anderson (\u201917). As a track athlete at Oregon State, she competed in the steeplechase, the oft-overlooked yet grueling endurance race where runners leap over hurdles and a 12-foot water pit. And, Anderson changed her major to English. \u201cI started out in pre-veterinary science,\u201d she says. \u201cBecoming an English major […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1500,911,196231],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alumni","category-students","category-subfeatures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/edge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/edge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/edge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/edge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/edge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2855"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/edge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2871,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/edge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2855\/revisions\/2871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/edge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/edge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/edge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}