Littleton '16 Completes Independent Study

11 March 2015 Littleton 16 Completes Independent Study

While studying abroad in Mendoza, Argentina, Amelia Littleton 16 completed an independent study culminating in a collection of poems. After taking a poetry course on campus, Littleton decided to write poems to capture her time in Mendoza.

While I was abroad I worked on writing poems to help me through the cultural and life changes that were presented to me. I am very fortunate that it turned into a collection of poems that I am really proud of, she explains.

Littleton hopes to turn her independent study into an Honors project, which will seamlessly combine her two majors: environmental studies and English.

I hope to study Ecopoetics as a style of both poetry, as well as a way for us to understand environmental studies. It will be an in-depth exploration of how my two majors can truly be interdisciplinary and have an effect on one another, she says.

The interest in combining environmental studies and English stems from a course Littleton took before declaring her double major: Environmental Literature. It was a course that focused on contemporary environmental readings; both fiction and non-fiction. It included aspects of environmental studies as well as English, and was the class that prompted my interest in a double major, she says.

As a student, Littleton has enjoyed the flexibility afforded to her by the HWS curriculum. As a student with an interest in science, one unique thing about my academic experience here is that I have been able to take a wide range of science courses. Unlike other schools where whole semesters can be dedicated to biology courses, I have been able to pick and choose my classes that involve science. I think that the opportunity to take such a wide range of classes in any area is unique to HWS, and has had a big impact on how and what Ive been able to learn here thus far, she says.

On campus, Littleton is a member of Campus Greens and the Sustainable Foods Club. She previously worked as the Sodexo Sustainability Intern.