Shannon Rogers
My name is Shannon Rogers and I am from the Greater Chicagoland area. I currently write for an online news media platform known as The Odyssey and am maintaining an internship at Hope College within the Communication Department as the department’s Public Relations Practitioner. I am an award recipient of the Megan Bradshaw Scholarship, and Deans List (2015, 2016). I am infatuated with research and it’s growing importance within the professional and undergraduate setting.
When I think of research, I think of honesty. Research is exciting due to its mere nature. There may not always be an immediate answer, but the process reveals truths about me, the researcher. As Martin Luther King Jr. once articulated, “We are not makers of history. We are made by history.” God has blessed me to be a part of this program, so I look forward to all He has in store for me in conducting research.
Kaitlyn Rustemeyer
I am an English Literature major from Naperville, Illinois. I currently work as a Writing Assistant in Hope College’s Klooster Center for Excellence in Writing, pursuing both my passion for helping people and for the written word! I am a recipient of the Distinguished Artist Award and have been named to Hope College’s Deans List every semester I’ve attended (Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016). I am extremely interested in research, and hope to expand my knowledge by pursuing deep questions through the opportunities provided by the Mellon Scholars Program.
My interests in research bring me to think deeply on the dramatic influence that the written word has on society. I love exploring how every writer tries to decode humanity, society, and every aspect of our world. In particular, I am passionate about the potential to visit historic places as a way to fully extend the possibilities of research. This potential will hopefully be met through my acceptance into the study abroad program at University of Aberdeen in Aberdeen Scotland for the 2017-2018 academic year. In the future, I hope to be doing mission work in Western Europe, possibly having completed a Ph.D. in Divinity and a Masters of Arts in Christian Education Formation.
Kellyanne Fitzgerald
I am a French and English double major from Burlington, Wisconsin. I have been named to the Dean’s List for all three semesters of my college career so far, and I am a recipient of the Distinguished Artist’s Award for creative writing. I enjoy research and learning in all forms, and I am looking forward to furthering my appreciation of literature when I study abroad in Nantes, France, next semester. In the future, I hope to work in publishing.
I am interested in figuring out why things are the way that they are, in particular, why people did certain things a certain way, or why a poem manages to combine form and content to strike just the right tone. Research helps me to answer that why question, and gives me even more questions to explore along the way.