A passion for literature and writing sparked in his high school English class led Daniel Kasper to enroll in Southern Arkansas University, but the inspiration and influence of the professors have further fanned the flames of his passion into a desire to teach.<\/p>\n
The 21-year-old English major from Forney, Texas has already been accepted to two professional conferences to present his work and is plotting his future, which includes pursuing a doctorate in gothic literature. While studying toward that goal, he serves as a writing consultant in the SAU Writing Center.<\/p>\n
The Writing Center\u2019s genesis is credited to Dr. Shannin Schroeder, a professor in the College of Liberal and Performing Arts. With the support of Drs. Elizabeth Davis and Lynne Belcher, the center opened in 2000 to be a resource to all students in helping strengthen writing skills.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout students like Daniel, there would be no Writing Center at SAU,\u201d said Schroeder, director.<\/p>\n
The center\u2019s mission is to work with any writer, at any level, at any stage of the writing process, no matter the writing the student is doing, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniel in particular is an incredibly gifted writer,\u201d she said. \u201cYet as a consultant, his own writing skills are not the center of the consultation. Without fail, writing consultants themselves improve as writers, because they are constantly thinking about the process and about what strategies work best for different types of papers.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a 34 ACT score, Kasper could have chosen any number of universities, but the affordability and caliber of education provided at SAU were pivotal in his choice. His younger sister, Kody, a sophomore art major\/English minor, also attends the university.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not the only one in my family. I can\u2019t exhaust the entire college fund for my education,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m glad I came to SAU.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inheriting a \u201cdouble dose\u201d of the love of reading from both of his parents, who equally value education, Kasper and his sister began reading as infants.\u00a0 His father, a fire fighter in Carrollton, Texas is an avid reader. His mother, who majored in horticulture in college, \u201cconned\u201d her father into paying for a Shakespeare course at the university. That is probably where the spark started, according to Kasper.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat copy of Shakespeare has been on a shelf at home as long as I can remember,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Kasper said professors here, namely Dr. Schroeder and Dr. Linda Tucker, have challenged him and introduced him to literature outside of his favorite genre \u2013 gothic literature.<\/p>\n
Ever since reading \u201cDracula\u201d in high school, Kasper has been drawn to all versions of Gothicism.<\/p>\n
\u201cDracula\u201d was the first major feminist text. I\u2019m drawn to that aspect of it,\u201d said Kasper. He was introduced to more modern versions of gothic literature through Toni Morrison\u2019s \u201cBeloved\u201d in Dr. Tucker\u2019s African American literature course.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have the Victorian version of Gothicism (\u201cDracula\u201d) and a modern version of Gothicism,\u201d he said of the two books. \u201cThe novel form was essentially invented for gothic literature, which has been called \u2018the most accurate way of looking at the world.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Though he isn\u2019t a teacher yet, as a writing center consultant, Kasper gets a taste of his chosen career, which isn\u2019t always like he imagined.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve learned that teaching isn\u2019t easy, but it is worthwhile as long as you are helping someone get better. Every experience is a learning one, even the frustrating ones,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He describes his most satisfying moments as those that turn on a light bulb for someone he helps.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best part is translating knowledge that you have into something someone else can understand,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
People not taking advantage of the valuable campus resource is a pet peeve of his.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hate to see people come through the door just looking for extra credit,\u201d he said. \u201cThey are not interested in improving their work, so the whole exercise of introducing them to the abilities of the writing center is pointless. There is no paper written that can\u2019t be improved.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A passion for literature and writing sparked in his high school English class led Daniel Kasper to enroll in Southern Arkansas University, but the inspiration and influence of the professors have further fanned the flames of his passion into a desire to teach. The 21-year-old English major from Forney, Texas has already been accepted to… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10489],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-student-spotlight","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/lpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/lpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/lpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/lpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/lpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/lpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/lpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/lpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/lpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}