Mike Rennard '07 7th Grade Literature Teacher

My major in English has led me to become a founding teacher at an environmentally-themed middle school in west Baltimore, where I pass along my love of learning, reading, writing, and thinking to children every day. I've found a richly fulfilling career simply by pursuing what I love, and I attribute a great deal of my success to the professors in the W&L English department who helped to teach me how to think.

There is a lot of speculation that you should study something that matters or that is practical while you are in college. This is ridiculous. Nothing matters more than learning how to think for yourself and how to talk to other people about it. A close second-through-fourth to these skills is the ability to read something unfamiliar, comprehend it, and write intelligently about it. Nothing will prepare you better in these four areas than a degree in English.