Jessica Kent

From tour guide to Writing Center tutor to research assistant, Jessica Kent '04 has made the most of her liberal arts experience at Hamilton.

A dual comparative literature and creative writing major, Jessica chose Hamilton for the quality of its academic program, but, after a few semesters, she was surprised by what she described as the "vast overlap" between classes that she never would have considered connected.

"Hamilton's approach to education provided me the opportunity to see that each school of thought can help me understand all others," she said. "For example, French grammar and political theory readings helped improve my creative writing, while what I learned in a physics course about sound assisted my performance in College Choir and Tumbling After [a female a cappella singing group]."

As a summer intern in the Comparative Literature Department, Jessica helped Professor Peter Rabinowitz develop a course called "The Craft of Writing" that will be taught jointly by professors in comparative literature, government and economics.  Jessica read original sources to identify common themes and to pinpoint texts that would be accessible to a wide range of student interests. "In an interdisciplinary course, it's important to reach everybody and find connections between disciplines," she said.

Jessica also works as a tutor in the Writing Center, where she helps students hone their writing skills in one-on-one sessions and through Web-based interactive writing exercises. In the long run, she hopes to teach English or comparative literature at the college level and publish some works of fiction.

"One of my favorite aspects of Hamilton is the intimate class size and the opportunity to work closely with professors," she said. "This environment fosters trust and a personal commitment to academic success, which I am all the more eager to achieve."

Jessica, who has returned from studying English literature at England's Oxford University, recently received a research grant associated with her William J. Bristol, Jr., Scholarship and will be using it to conduct a research project culminating in a thesis and an original novel.