Looking back on my time in Wyoming, I am most grateful for the opportunity to spend time in such a beautiful place while using the class as an opportunity to expand my creative horizons and explore new things. Before this program, I thought of myself as strictly a prose writer. I was interested in poetry, but I had never taken the time to study it closely or seriously attempt writing it.

For the class’s final project, I read several Romantic poets and tried writing poems that copied their forms while describing my own experiences in Wyoming. Being surrounded by the incredible landscape made it easier to understand why nature has inspired so much poetry. The project taught me that writing can be a way of paying closer attention to a place instead of just taking a picture and passing through.

Dr. Wanderer was very open to letting me take the final project in my own direction. She was on board with the idea from the beginning and gave me a lot of support as it developed. I also enjoyed the class’s writing workshop experience. Hearing how other people responded to my work helped me see what worked and what didn’t. It also gave me practice reading other students’ work and offering useful feedback.

Our time at AMK Ranch was one of the best parts of the program. The location was unlike anything I’d experience, and Willy, Kasey, and Charlie were especially cool and accommodating throughout our stay. One of my favorite memories was sitting on the dock, eating pizza and ice cream with my classmates and the crew from AMK, and watching the sun set over the water and mountains
Looking back on it, I would’ve done a little more prep for the hikes; I didn’t realize how out of shape I was, but I plan to continue writing poetry and have already started thinking about expanding this project, further exploring the connection between creative writing and natural science.