“I really like Salt Lake City. It has a really great vibe and I really like the campus here, too. Campus life is really fun and there’s always something happening. This year, I’ve attended farmers markets and flea markets and I love to see what everybody makes. 

There are so many cool classes at the U. The classes I’ve taken have taught me so much and really helped me become a better person. I am so glad I chose to major in writing and rhetoric because it’s different from what I thought it would be, but in a good way. I’m learning so much about diversity, equity and inclusion. I also like that it is a small major, so I’ve gotten to know my classmates and professors really one-on-one.

My freshman year in one of my classes we read a lot of articles and papers about different dialects of English and the way standardized English ignores the language traditions of marginalized groups. This changed the way I think because growing up, I was definitely taught this is the correct way to write and speak and anything else sounds uneducated. Learning about different dialects of English and their validity was groundbreaking for me. There’s a lot of moments like this where I see different perspectives and learn new things and I’m like ‘Oh! That makes a lot of sense.’ And I feel like I’m growing a lot as a person. 

I have loved getting to know all sorts of new people here. Getting to read what other people are creating and just seeing how issues affect everybody is super awesome. Growing up in Utah County, that wasn’t something I experienced a lot. Here I am building the skill of being able to communicate with a wide variety of people and I am learning to listen to what other people have to say.”

— Lauren Jackman, a senior from Utah County