By: Jake Smith

 

Hello, everyone. My name is Jake Smith and I am an Aerospace Engineering major here in the in-person section of the class. I am currently planning on graduating in Spring 2021. I’m spending the summer here in the ATL taking two classes, while working part time and golfing whenever I can.

 

I took English 1101 here at Tech my freshman year first semester and put off taking 1102 until the summer. Not that I didn’t enjoy my 1101 class about murder mysteries, but as an AE major, English hasn’t exactly been at the top of my list. In my experience with the WOVEN curriculum, I believe I struggle the most with written communication. I do enjoy turning in a well-written essay, however I am a slow writer so some writing assignments can be challenging for me. I hope to hone in on my writing ability this semester by brainstorming and making outlines to help the pen to paper process, as well as improving other modes of communication.

 

What do I know about Hamilton? I do know that Mike Pence was not a fan of the show, but apart from the not so surprising news of our current administration not supporting hip-hop counterculture, I am not too familiar with it or really any musicals for that matter. I do enjoy music, dance, and movies a lot, but I have not enjoyed musicals like I have other types of performance arts. Additionally, I do enjoy some hip-hop music. My quick list of the rap greats over the years: Biggie (of course), Andre 3000 & Big Boi, Nas, Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg, Kanye, Kendrick, and recently Young Thug, Kodak Black, Money Man, and Travis Scott.

 

I look forward to this semester and here’s a collection of my favorite albums by these some of these artists:

 

By Ben Payne

Hello everyone, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ben, I’m an Aerospace Engineering

major from Peachtree City, GA. I’ve had a long history here at Georgia Tech, starting classes in the Fall of 2009 with a couple breaks in between. But I’m set to graduate in the Fall of 2018 assuming all goes well, so I’m almost done. My major obligation this summer other than this class is my full time job. I work as a freight agent for an auto transport broker based in my hometown. So I’m working Monday through Friday, as well as some Saturdays. Immediately following class, I drive (or ride my motorcycle) over to my sister’s place in Decatur and start working until 10pm.

One of the major reasons it has taken me this long to graduate has been English classes. Earlier in my college career, I would sign up for an English course, become interested in the early stages of the course, then fall behind in coursework and attendance, and, because of the mandatory attendance policy in place, be forced to drop the class. I believe I took at least five different ENGL 1101 classes before finally passing in the Fall of 2017. And even that one was close. I hope to rid myself of some of my bad procrastination habits this semester, although it may be difficult, as I am also working full time while taking this class. I do enjoy parts of communication; mostly reading about things I’m interested in, but the other side of communication has always been a struggle for me. I’m great at editing things, whether they be writing or visual, but producing things from scratch usually makes my head spin not knowing where to start. I’m hoping to improve my writing, making it more fluid and understandable, as well as my verbal communication, as getting my thoughts out correctly the first time has proved a struggle for me in the past. I’m also excited to work on electronic communication, with these blog posts and tweets, as well as the historical annotation project.

Prior to this class, I had never seen a Broadway musical. In high school, a trip to New York for an academic tournament sent us to a production of Stomp off-Broadway, but I’ve never seen a major musical. I have listened to the Wicked soundtrack from start to finish once after a friend’s daughter saw the play and shared it with me.

I first heard of Hamilton in early 2016, when I was planning a trip to New York to visit my cousin at Columbia. I was interested in seeing something on Broadway, and she suggested it, but also said that tickets were basically impossible to come by. Time ending up slipping away on that trip, and I never went to see a play. I guess it wasn’t meant to be, but I am glad to be studying Hamilton now, other than the fact that the songs are stuck in my head all day everyday now after listening to them all multiple times

 

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Hey everyone! My name is Ian Byers, and I’m a computer science major who is anticipated to graduate in 2021. I’m the in-person section of this class, but I am commuting to Georgia Tech, so I won’t be on campus very much this Summer. The only other class I am taking in the Summer is a late Summer semester class, so I am currently spending my free time preparing for my Fall classes since I will have a pretty difficult schedule then.

This is my first English course which I am taking at Tech, but I have heard lots about other peoples’ experiences in these classes and how they are different than English courses at other colleges. In my previous English classes, the expectations were very different than those of a course at Tech, but I am sure that many basic skills will be transferable. I would say that I enjoy and prefer oral and visual communication, while I tend to struggle more with written communication. Although I hope to improve all aspects of my communicative abilities this semester, I will focus most on improving those which I find more difficult, particularly written communication.

As far as the course theme goes, I had a superficial knowledge of Hamilton before this class on account of its popularity, but I had not listened to or watched it in any form. I also do not have significant experience with musicals in general, and although I do not have any inherent dislike for the genre, and can even appreciate it at times; I definitely dislike the culture that exists around it. I have a similar opinion of hip hop, except that I have listened to it in the past and am exposed to it regularly, as my friends listen to it often.

My interests are admittedly fairly uncommon ones. I have an amateurish interest in European history, and have visited many European countries. One thing about me that people may find unusual about me is that I have I actually have a strong dislike of most modern technologies and their uses. This may seem odd considering my major, but this is actually part of why I chose to study computer science in the first place.

Here’s a picture of me with my mom on a glacier in Iceland, which is some of the most fun I have had while traveling abroad!

By: Zac Frederick

Hi everyone! My name is Zac Frederick, and I am very excited to be a part of this English 1102 course. I am a business major and have just completed my first year here at Tech in May. My four-year graduation would be in 2021, however (hence the summer courses) I am hoping that I can bump that forward maybe a semester or two! I am in the online section of the course, however I am still here in Atlanta, and am also taking in-class courses at Tech every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. In addition, I am fortunate enough to have landed an internship this summer, and have scheduled Tuesdays and Thursdays for that effort.

In high school I would say that English courses were probably my least favorite area of study. The content was far too broad for my liking, and I never felt that my efforts would ever yield a knowledge that I saw as valuable. However, when I came to Tech I realized that English was taught differently from a standard English curriculum, in that classes focused on a specific study, and you could become proficient in one or a set of ideas. My 1101 course studied the effect noise, music, and our overall soundscape has on every aspect of our lives, and I really feel like I got something out of the course that I had not yet experienced with English thus far.

For this reason, I was very excited when I learned we would be taking an in-depth look at Hamilton over this summer semester. Coming from knowing almost nothing about the play that has created such a craze across the nation over the previous few years, it is understandably somewhat intimidating of a position; however, I am glad to be introduced to the subject in an English course setting. I really enjoyed our AP U.S. History study of this time period, but I feel like we glossed over such an important time period, one that I would very much desire to learn more about. In addition, I am not really well-versed (or desire to be) in musicals, but I am happy to make an exception for one that is held in such high esteem.

Here’s a picture of my greatest life accomplishment, me accidentally killing a bird with a golf ball at the driving range!

Hi everyone, My name is Ye Jun Kim, and I am a Computational Media major, anticipating to graduate in 2021. I am taking this course online, but I am still at Tech! I am taking CS 1331 right now, along with this class, so I live near campus.

I actually took English 1101 with Dr. Wilson Fall semester. The theme during that class was play, so I was able to explore different kinds of play and how we can communiate with these forms of play.

My favorite kind of communicaton is visual. I really like drawing and looking at art pieces and how emotion is conveyed through those artworks.

As i have said in one of my tweets, I am a first generation immigrant. I came to America when I was in third grade, so I can speak English well enough to communicate, but I struggle with communicating effectively. I hope to improve this kind of communication as I progress throughout the course.

I don’t really have a direct experience with the course, but I think I’ve heard a couple of the songs while shuffling through youtube a long time ago. I really like musicals because I enjoy listening to music and the songs having to tell a story. I don’t know about showtunes, but I enjoy listening to movie soundtracks and I guess they can be similar in a way that they music enhaces the story.

I’m not a very big fan of hip-hop, but I really like Chance the Rapper, and music similar to his style of music. I usually listen to modern jazz or indie music, and now days, there are a lot of modern jazz songs featuring rappers, which is really cool and interesting to listen to.

The picture above is an artwork done by my favorite artist, Seonglib. It is a drawing of a couple kissing.

Hello everyone! My name is Arfa Ul-Haque and I am a biochemistry major on a pre-health track. I hope to graduate in May 2021. I am part of the in-person section of the English 1102 course and am also taking Physics 2 on campus. This course is the first English class that I am taking at Tech. My favorite literature class that I have taken so far is AP Literature. I had a really great teacher who helped me improve my writing and taught me how to analyze of a variety of genres of literature. I especially liked our examination of poetry and the in-depth analysis of the books we read, like The Invisible Man and The Handmaid’s Tale.

The parts of communication that I enjoy are visual and written. As a commuter, I spend a lot of time reading so I love the written aspect of communication and exploring how various authors write differently based on the genre they are writing and the tone they are trying to convey. I also like the visual aspect because I learn best through visual demonstrations. The communication aspect that I struggle most with is oral communication, as I get anxious when speaking in front of large groups of people. I hope to improve my written and oral communication to become more efficient at writing and more confident in public speaking.

I first heard Hamilton a few months after it initially was released in 2015, so I’m pretty familiar with the musical. Once I was introduced to it, I was immediately captured by the lyrical genius that is Lin-Manuel Miranda.

I love how he incorporated so many different elements of hip hop into the musical and the overall historical accuracy he maintained while writing the script. After listening to Hamilton, I became familiar with other musicals made by Lin-Manuel Miranda, including In the Heights and the mini-musical 21 Chump Street. Since then, I’ve become a fan of many other musicals including Dear Evan Hansen, Into the Woods, and Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812.

Overall, I’m excited for this course and to learn more about Hamilton!

By: Arfa Ul-Haque

Hey y’all! My name’s Emily Moseley and I’m in the in-person class of Dr. Wilson’s English 1102. I’m a Mechanical Engineering major going for that Automotive Concentration and probably graduating around Spring 2021. I’m on campus this semester taking three classes and working close by. Other than work and school, I’m involved with GT Motorsports getting our racecar ready for a competition in the UK in July! (that’s the car below)

Last fall, I took English 1101 with Dr. Dean-Ruzicka. Interestingly enough, it was a class about ‘Murder in the American Culture’ which put a new twist on English class for me. I’m honestly excited for this class to be less gorry than 1101 as well as to improve my written communication skills. I am the biggest procrastinator around and I’ve been seeing how that can reflect in my writing lately. I’d like to come out of this class knowing how to start an essay or research paper in a more structured way to get rid of that writing anxiety.

I’ve never been a huge fan of musicals; however, when I started doing set design and working backstage in my high school’s theater department they quickly converted me and taught me to like a few musicals and Hamilton was one of them. I could probably recite every line in the play we listened to it so much, and I was lucky to see the full performance before the bootleg was taken down last summer. I’m excited to talk more about it since it’s been awhile since I’ve listened to the soundtrack.

Hey there! I’m Carol Rojas Ramirez (I know, it’s kind of mouthful… just imagine half of your last name cut off in your High School Diploma. I know… I was shocked too).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just kidding… they just omitted the “Ramirez” part. It’s cool I’m totally not salty about it.

Anyways, I’m a second year Industrial Engineering major whose anticipated graduation year is 2021 (crossing my fingers). I’m enrolled in the online version of the class and I’m currently back home in Buford, Georgia. I’m actually taking three other online classes and working part time at a bookstore.  Other than that, my only obligation is tanning and fantasizing about all of the dogs I will be adopting once I graduate.

I took English 1101 last Fall with Dr. Rachel Dean-Ruzicka and had an amazing time learning about murder in America. That class really helped me improve my written communication skills. However, the part that I enjoyed the most was the visual communications aspect. We had to create a movie poster that represented the many ideas we had talked about throughout the course. I don’t fancy myself a creative person, so it was challenging but something I thoroughly enjoyed and hope that I get to do again at some point in my career. We had various projects where we had to speak in front of large audiences, which was very difficult for me do without having tiny anxiety attacks. So that’s something that I hope to work on not just during this class but throughout my time at Tech.

I have heard about Hamilton and how everyone was raving about it for a while but I haven’t heard or listened to it before. I have always despised musicals (hence my hatred for most Disney movies… actually that’s also due to Up).

*cries*

Sorry… I get distracted. But despite my hatred for musicals, I do love hip hop and rap and after listening to some of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s previous work, I am very much looking forward to experiencing Hamilton in its many forms.

As you can tell, I really like gifs and pretending that I have a sense of humor. I also enjoy reading, swimming, cooking, and playing with doggos.

Hi Everyone! My name is Kristen English and I am a Business Administration major with a concentration in IT Management. I am scheduled to graduate in December of 2019, so sadly I only have a few more semesters here at the Institute. I am in the online section of this course due to taking a full load of early and late summer classes on campus. I have completed an internship and am currently in the middle of rotations between a separate co-op which is the reason my scheduling of classes is so weird and I’m taking this course as a rising senior :)

A little about me; I am currently co-oping at Delta Air Lines as a project management co-op with the Airport Customer Service department. A big perk of my job is that I get to travel a lot!! I’ve been fortunate enough to go so many cool places and I am looking forward to going to many more! I participated in the Georgia Tech Oxford Study abroad program last summer and traveled all over Europe and made many new friends. My absolute favorite place I’ve traveled was the island of Capri off the coast of Naples, Italy. Ask me any time about my travels and you’d probably be stuck for an hour listening to me go on and on. Outside of traveling, I really enjoy going to Piedmont Park, hiking, and basically anything outdoors!

In terms of English courses at Tech, I took ENG 1101 my freshman year with Andrea Kraft and really enjoyed my experience. I was fortunate to have a professor who really cared about her students learning the material and picking a topic that was interesting and engaging. We worked a lot with blog posts and website creation in that course which was extremely beneficial for me because my past experiences with English courses in high school were mainly just written essay and literature based. I feel like I still have room to improve however with the technical written aspects of communication but this past course was a great introduction.

In all honesty I have never even seen a real musical other than High School Musical (which I don’t think really counts…). I do recognize the name Hamilton though and know that it is a widely known and loved musical. I am familiar with a lot of music from musicals due to my love of the TV show Glee in high school. I am also very familiar with the hip-hop genre from being a college student and living in Atlanta which is widely known to produce note-worthy artists of the genre. I am excited to learn more about Hamilton and hip-hop and how they tie into each other. I am a naturally curious person with a passion for learning new things so I am sure this semester is going to be another great experience for me as a student to broaden my horizons and learn new things!

Hello, everyone. My name is Keval Bollavaram. I am a Biomedical Engineering major, and I hope to graduate in May 2021. I am in the online section of this course; however, I am still on campus because I hope to pursue research opportunities while occasionally visiting my family. Beyond this course and research, I will also be taking physics II online as well.  A little bit more about me, I played guitar for six years and violin for three years. Outside of academics, I am a huge fan of tennis and enjoy the riskiness of investing in the stock market.

I have not taken any other English courses at Georgia Tech, but—for the most part—my past experience with English classes have been positive. To date, my favorite English class was my AP Language and Composition class. We looked at a wide variety of material in this course and while some of the material in this course did not interest me, every text improved my reading comprehension skills. Moreover, my teacher was very enthusiastic and attentive to the needs of each student.

I am a decent visual and nonverbal communicator. However, the forms of communication I enjoy the most are electronic and visual. I believe I need to improve my written and oral forms of communication. I struggle most with these topics, but I hope to have many opportunities to improve and makes these modes of communications strengths rather than weaknesses.

I do not have many experiences with musicals albeit I have some prior knowledge of Hamilton. During this musical’s rise to prominence, I was taking AP U.S. History, and in class we made one or two loose connections to the musical while studying the time period. Other than this, I have few experiences with both musicals and hip-hop. Currently, I am apathetic about both of these subjects, but I am eager to learn/experience something new.