Amber Alexander, a senior English major at Ohio State Marion, was named a recipient of The Place Project grant last spring and hopes to travel between autumn and spring semester to find her inspiration at a national wildlife refuge in Florida.
This $1,000 grant allows the recipient, who must be an Ohio State Marion English major, to travel and work on their writing project of choice, which can range from creative writing to working on an article length research paper. The end goal is to motivate the student to publish their work, which is exactly what Alexander plans to do.
“My focus for this project is two fold, writing my senior thesis and building on my creative writing portfolio for my applications to graduate school," said Alexander "I want to pursue a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) and being able to use these funds to focus on writing and having new experiences are going to help me tremendously," she added.
Inspired by a book she is currently reading, Alexander's goal is to travel to Saint Marks National Wildlife Refuge just south of Tallahassee, Florida .Alexander also noted that her ambitions to create a portfolio isn’t the only place she wants her writing to end up.
Alexander said, “I’m also hoping that I can take these pieces of work and submit them in the Cornfield Review.” The Cornfield Review is a literary journal published on the Marion campus; Alexander has been published once before. “I also want to look into publishing a collection as a book through a reputable publishing house or attempt to self publish.”
Alexander will work alongside English professor Dr. Sara Crosby, the mentor for the project.
“I’m looking forward to working with Dr. Crosby outside of literature analysis. She’s always been a mentor and role model to me. When I applied to this grant I realized how many research papers I’ve written for her classes and how much creative writing I haven’t been able to share,” Alexander said.
As a part of the grant, Alexander has to give a presentation of her work to the Ohio State Marion community at the completion of the project.
“Essentially any opportunity I can take in order to get my writing recognized I am willing to try," Alexander explained. "I’m excited to start and can’t wait to see what other opportunities this opens up for me academically and professionally.”