We Are Knox...

"Knox is a college willing to say ‘yes’ to its students."

"Knox is a college willing to say ‘yes' to its students," says Dave Brankin '12, a
Richter Scholars award recipient who immersed himself in the mountains,
canyons, and forests of Colorado for three months as part of a larger creative writing initiative.

To Brankin, a liberal arts education means pairing purposeful hands -- on opportunities with classroom learning in a broad range of disciplines for a richer experience than is typical at other institutions. A Richter Scholars award gave him the chance to explore and experience a geography he had always wanted to write about.

"I've had the project in my head for some time," Brankin says. "As a kid from Illinois, the number of ‘pilgrimages' I've made to the West, namely to Colorado, since I was about 16, is staggering. In that sense, I had been prepared to tackle this landscape for a long time."

Similar in concept to the Art Department's Open Studio term, Brankin's experience is part of a greater, self-designed 'Writer's Term' where he will work one-on-one with faculty to put his entire Richter experience into something imaginative and real.

Brankin believes his scholarship in creative writing is comparable in many ways to more traditional forms of research. What he proposed was no small matter, and he knew it would be both physically and mentally demanding.

"Physically, the research led me to national parks and forests, wilderness areas, down dusty county roads, and to some seriously beautiful, mystifying places," Brankin says. "Mentally and spiritually, the research led me into environments that are each challenging in their own right. In the faces of mountains and forests and dinosaur bones, I'm constantly wondering, ‘How do I fit into this? How does anyone fit into this?' In some ways, it's an existential landscape I'm traversing."

Brankin looks forward to the challenge of formulating his experience into writing through a structured term of coursework and workshops with faculty mentors, and he leaves a piece of advice for those coming into Knox. "I'm always looking for any way to broaden my creative, especially literary horizons ... you can learn a lot just by watching your peers -- especially at Knox."