College helps student find her path
Jackson College student Madison Hebenstreit was recently one of several students honored with the Susan B. Anthony/Harriet Tubman award from the Jackson Woman’s History Council — an incredible experience for her.
“I haven’t really won a lot of stuff and having this group of incredible women who are paving the way and making sure there’s still a place at the table for other women, having them look at something that I made and point at it and go, ‘that one deserves recognition,’ was amazing,” she said. “I don’t even have words for how honored I felt.”
Madison’s award-winning project was a mixed media abstract painting based on Florence Bascom, the first female geologist to graduate from Johns Hopkins University.
“She fought her way in to get there and graduate with a PhD, so I thought that was super inspiring,” she said.
The Jet loves English and supplements that as a writing fellow. Writing has been a passion of hers for as long as she can remember.
“I’ve always loved storytelling ever since I was old enough to hold a pen,” she said. “My sister really loved art so we kind of had this idea when we were little to put the two together and start writing books together.”
Her creativity and dedication to writing were nurtured at Jackson College, especially under the guidance of English instructor Clarinda Flannery.
“Just being in her class and having her look at my structure and not just critique it but also point out things that I could continue doing, it was really cool to see,” she said.
While developing her craft in being a writing fellow she also participates in the Heritage Center working on research-based projects which is a strength of hers. Another area where her talents shine.
“You have to have the drive and passion for it and you have to know how work with a system,” she said. “We look at newspapers that are really, really old so you have to figure out what language that would use during, for example, the Great Depression. It’s exciting to see all of it kind of piece together in the Heritage Center.”
Professor Diana Agy has been guiding her as both a writing fellow along with her research in the Heritage Center.
“She has can look at your writing and piece together a bunch of stuff that you might not even realize you’re doing subconsciously and work that in to whatever you’re working on in class and allow you to branch out and continue working on that structure,” she said.
Madison will graduate this summer with an Associate of Arts degree and plans to transfer to get a degree in English or literature. Her dream? Writing children’s books and possibly diving into journalism.
She recommends Jackson College as a place to find yourself.
“It’s a great place for people to go when they’re not really sure what they want to do but they know they want to continue education because they have so many incredible programs and transfer programs,” she said. “The staff are amazing. They really do their best to make sure that everyone no matter what has a chance at succeeding here.”