Andrew Smiglowski

In the spring of 2019, I graduated from Mount St. Mary's University with a Bachelor of Arts in English, as well as minors in both creative writing and history. My life was truly enriched by the people I met, the memories I made, and the knowledge I gained, despite the very newness of it. I sought out this new life, far from the inviting simplicity of the one I had known before, from the one where I was comfortable, yet complacent. This choice has set me on a continuous trajectory where I push myself to be more and to do more.

The most important skill I honed while in college was, much like many of my fellow students, nurtured in classrooms, study sessions, lectures, and presentations - but not in the way one might expect. While I certainly learned and developed as a result of my four years in college, it is my confidence - both in myself and in my writing ability - that flourished more than anything else.

This confidence was harnessed in numerous ways during my time at Mount St. Mary’s University, and there were two specific outlets that I am most proud to have been involved with: I was a staff writer for the university newspaper, “The Mountain Echo,” which has been in print since 1879. I am proud to be a part of over 140 years of journalistic tradition, and I was lucky enough to learn much more about the specifics of the newspaper industry.

I was also a contributor and staff editor for the university’s award-winning literary and arts magazine, "Lighted Corners," which is printed annually. "Lighted Corners" has won many awards for both individual and staff accomplishments, including several Columbia Scholastic Press Association awards. I was - and still am - humbled to have had three short stories, a poem, and a [photograph] published in multiple volumes of the magazine, and the skills I developed during my time as an editor for it are skills that still benefit me even now.

While I have known since elementary school that I was destined to be a writer, my passion for the English language and its various forms, features, and functions was reinvigorated and reforged by my experiences as a college student. Through this self-sought and phoenixlike restoral, I have instilled within myself a fire that burns with the embers of creativity, which was ignited by the broadening of my horizons and the deepening of my understanding of the inherent power of written language.

I have come a long way from my lowly beginnings, from my first fascinations with poetry and prose, and I am both eager and excited to utilize my passion to make a difference in the world, one sentence, one word, one letter at a time.