David Whitt: Passion for Writing and the Outdoors

When students imagine English professors, they often picture a person seated in a dimly lit room surrounded by piles of books. The professors I’ve encounter at the University of Idaho couldn’t be further from this common misconception. Our English department chair, Scott Slovic, and our director of undergraduate studies, Jenn Ladino, both share my passion for the outdoors and participate in UI’s Semester in the Wild (SITW) program. The ability to apply English skills in and out of a classroom setting makes our program unique – like no other program anywhere else.

My most transformative experience while attending UI was participating in SITW, an immersive interdisciplinary semester-long wilderness classroom taught in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Area. I can’t encapsulate this experience into a few short sentences, but I can perhaps share a glimmer of what it meant to me. If you have ever fasted, then you may have had a glimpse at the clarity of mind we all experienced out there. I learned more, ate healthier, and really got to know my professors. In short, the SITW rekindled a thirst for knowledge in me and gave me a boost of academic passion.

As a first generation college student, I’ve learned to work hard in order to help pay my own way through school, but without your support of the English department none of this would have been possible. You help me and other students fuel our passion for studying English.

Article by David Whitt