capstone authors
From left to right: James Hartzer '20, Andrea Salas-de la O '20, Conor Broderick '21, and Rachel Warshaw '22

by Sophie Hilker ’20

This semester, ten students completed their capstone projects in the English department in both English Literature, a seminar led by Professor Jim Dawes, and Creative Writing, with workshop led by Professor Michael Prior. Congratulations to James Hartzer, Andrea Salas-de la O, Zoe Berkovitz, Amelia Gerrard, Albert Lee, Laura Berglund, Conor Broderick, Rachel Warshaw, Nana Amoah, and Sarah Chinski on your wonderful work!

We here in the English Department usually look forward to enjoying students’ capstones presentations at the end of each semester. Though we were not able to celebrate their achievements in person, students found creative ways to showcase the culmination of their academic careers via Zoom presentations and poem submissions to The Words. Please enjoy a sampling of students’ work below.

James Hartzer gave a presentation on his chapbook titled “Desert Indiana” and submitted his poem “I dream of home ownership and a backyard full of wild flowers to The Words.

Andrea Salas-de la O shared her poem “for those men who could’ve sworn i’d loved them 27 de febrero ‘20” with The Words.

Conor Broderick submitted his poem “A Linear Combination of Solutions to the Schrödinger Equation.”

Rachel Warshaw gave a presentation on her chapbook “Junkyard God,” and provided her poem “theatre of the apocalypse: the dinosaur spirit performs the epilogue” for the enjoyment of The Words’ audiences.

Nana Amoah gave a presentation via Zoom titled “What is Home?: Exploring the meaning of home through art & poetry,” reading and breaking down the construction of various original poems.


Congratulations to all students on the successful completion of your capstones! Your marvelous work continues to make the department proud. All presentations have now been removed at the request of the students.