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Megan Reynolds, graduating senior and Mellon SURF Alum, shares her experiences in undergraduate research, presenting at conferences, and her post-graduate plans.

            I started my research on third-generation Holocaust narratives and the intergenerational transmission of trauma as part of the Mellon Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship in May of 2015. With Dr. Victoria Aarons’ guidance I spent the summer reading everything I could get my hands on that was either written by or about the third-generation (the grandchildren of survivors). At the end of the summer research session I wrote my research paper and presented it at the research symposium. This paper would then go on to help me in more ways that I anticipated. I used it as my graduate school admissions writing sample and spent the rest of the summer revising it for that very purpose. I also presented it at two conferences (the Northwest Undergraduate Conference on Literature in Portland, OR and the National Conference on Undergraduate Research in Asheville, NC). I never realized that my summer research here in San Antonio would take me to so many incredible places. At NCUR I got to hear other presenters from across the country share their own findings as well as explore such a beautiful little city. One day, I even went to the Biltmore mansion, the largest private residence in the United States and I saw Carl Sandberg’s North Carolinian estate. 

Megan Reynolds '16 presenting her research at the National Conference of Undergraduate Research in April 2016 
           
The most exciting place my research and my undergraduate career has taken me has to be graduate school. During the fall, I underwent the long process of applying to graduate schools. Once again, I could not have survived this process without the help of many of the English professors. I was accepted to multiple schools and faced the wonderful problem of having to choose where I wanted to attend school, a luxury many do not share. In the end, I decided to accept an offer to pursue my PhD in English at the University of Oregon. I hope to one day sit in the same places as the professors that have so profoundly shaped my life during my undergraduate years. As my ÐÔ°®ÌìÌà career comes to a close, I cannot emphasize how incredibly lucky I feel to have been able to attend such a supportive institution. I’m sad to move on but excited for the new adventures that lie ahead.