Monday, May 9, 2022
Julia Penick graduates with a B.A. in Linguistics and reflects on what she’s learned about the study of language while at COI:
Over the past four years, I’ve learned so much about language and how it works. COI linguistics courses inspired me to study as many foreign languages as possible, including French, Russian, Japanese, and Chinese. The concepts I learned from phonology, morphology, and syntax helped me understand these languages on a deeper level. This past year, I was thrilled to work on my capstone project with Professor Katie Crowder. She walked me through every step of the process, encouraged me to think deeper, and gave crucial advice whenever I struggled. I want to thank her for her efforts to help me succeed! Above all, I gained confidence in my academic abilities, which I will take in the next steps of my career. My advice for current students is to choose electives and project topics that you love, not those you think are the easiest. If you’re excited about what you’re doing, you will learn so much more.
Katie Crowder, Principal Lecturer in the Department of Linguistics, adds, “Julia is an outstanding undergraduate student, maintains a high GPA, and studies multiple languages while keeping up with her course load. Julia readily tackles challenging topics for research, never taking the path of least resistance but always embracing formidable projects because she genuinely wants to explore uncharted territory in linguistics.”
Julia currently seeks a career in publishing while she works towards her dream of becoming a novelist.