诗人金·斯文森(金正日Swendson)是一名收藏家, a gatherer of experiences with people she interacts with during the day. Asking the gas station attendant about his children, chatting with the barista about her weekend plans… these daily interactions serve as inspiration for the stories and poetry Swendson writes.

Swendson is a senior majoring in 英语 with a focus on creative writing and a minor in Italian at the 博彩平台推荐. Her interest in connecting with the strangers she meets led to a realization that they aren’t just random passers-by, 而是过着复杂生活的个体.

“与人交谈是一种美妙的感觉, because you can learn as much as you want about another person just by taking the time,斯文森说. “这就像一份永恒的礼物. With my poetry, I go out and have experiences and the writing just comes. 写作总是自然而然地出现，所以我跟着它走.”

Her work toward earning a degree in 英语 was validated when she received three scholarship awards from the Department of 英语: the Alex McGuiggan Scholarship, the Curtis Michael Gimeno Memorial Scholarship and the Jovanovich Imaginative Writing Award. Receiving these scholarships was a lifeline for Swendson, who comes from what she describes as a “quietly poor” family situation.

Born in Boulder and raised in Golden and Nederland, Swendson was one of six children. 表面上, the family looked presentable in their thrift-store clothes and tidy house, 据斯温德森说. School was a welcome distraction from worrying about her family’s lack of money, not to mention the stress of wondering how she could ever pay for college.

“We weren’t noticeable,” she said about her family’s financial situation.

“博彩平台推荐没有领取食品券, 博彩平台推荐没有露宿街头, but I’d come home from school and worry if there would be enough food. One time I took $14 in change I had been saving and bought food for us at a local convenience store. 所以获得这些奖学金对我来说意义重大. 这证明了我的话是有意义的.”

除了奖学金, Swendson has stitched together a patchwork of jobs, one of which is breeding award winning Bernese mountain dogs at her kennel, Mesa Top Berners. Her dog, Aureole just gave birth to six puppies—all boys. During the summer, Swendson works on a farm near Santa Fe, N.M., cultivating heritage vegetables and working with a local Community Supported Agriculture 集团.

Swendson is working on a manuscript of poetry titled 婴儿. The collection of poems explores the interaction between a father with a history of sexual abuse and his daughter, and how that manifests in the daughter as she moves on to other adult relationships.

Swendson chose the title because words like baby, babe and sweetie have connotations of making a woman feel immature or naïve. The work deals with the daughter’s old memories bubbling up of the sexual abuse by the father as well as more recent abusive relationships, 然后接受创伤.

除了她繁忙的日程之外, Swendson finds time to work with CU-Boulder’s Academic Success and Achievement Program (ASAP) program as a tutor in Italian and serve on the Student Advisory Council. 去年，她是 荣誉杂志 in creative nonfiction, and this year she is the poetry editor. 她也是诗歌编辑 徒步旅行 今年的期刊.

明年五月毕业后, she wants to get a master’s degree in creative writing and possibly a doctorate in comparative literature with an emphasis in Russian literature. Her goal is to teach graduate seminars, focusing on workshops.

“My degree from CU will provide me with the confidence necessary to pursue a career in such a competitive field,斯文森说, “but more important to my success have been the professional relationships that I’ve made here within the 英语 and Italian departments.”

Kenna布鲁纳 is a writer with Strategic Marketing Communications at CU-Boulder.