Professional and Public Writing Alumni
Rowan Conquest '25
Major
Political Science
Minors
Professional and Public Writing, Economics
A career in the Coast Guard awaits Rowan Conquest following graduation. He credits his professional and public writing minor in helping to prepare him for his future goals, an outcome he did not anticipate a few years ago. Already needing to complete his two gen ed writing classes, Rowan realized he could take a few extra writing classes to complete the PPW minor. Declaring the minor was an easy choice—but the benefits he’s gained were somewhat unexpected.
In his writing classes, he learned how to write effectively in multiple different styles, citing WTNG.250 with Professor Madritch as one of the most helpful. Rowan emphasized the importance of finding the right words in order to make his arguments as effective as possible. He noted that it improves professionalism “especially when talking to people like my recruiter who have a say on what I do next”. To combat that, he has made friends with a thesaurus in order to minimize unintended confusion and ineffectiveness. While he finds finding the right citations stressful when completing writing assignments, he enjoys the versatility of writing and how strong writing skills can give someone an edge in the workplace.
Rowan has applied to Coast Guard officer candidate school but will not hear back until next January. In the meantime, he will enlist to help his chances of getting accepted. Following his time in the Coast Guard, he will continue to put his writing skills to good use as he hopes to attend law school.
Becky Goyette '25
Major
Marine Biology
Minor
Professional and Public Writing
Armed with a solid writing foundation from the help of several high school teachers, Becky Goyette entered RWU knowing the importance of good writing on the job market. A strong believer in the importance of addressing issues through written communication, she aims to stand out from the sea of job applicants as someone who can write concisely and communicate effectively. Unlike her high school classes, where she was required to write about specific topics, she found that in college she could choose her own writing topics. That freedom kept her more interested in the writing classes and assignments. In one of her most recent courses, Multimodal Writing in Public Spheres, she wrote about ocean acidification on coral reefs, with an emphasis on integrating multiple modes (audio, visual, etc.) into her writing to create a bigger impact on readers.
She would advise incoming freshman to not fear writing and to understand the differences between high school writing and college writing. In her experience, high school teaches the writing fundamentals that allow the rhetorical freedom encouraged in PPW classes. In spite of her interest in writing, she dislikes the drafting process, admitting that she procrastinates drafting because of its tedious nature. She used to hate people reading her work, but she has come to like the feedback from professors as she found it greatly improves her writing abilities.
As a graduating senior, Becky has put those writing skills to use writing job applications, cover letters and resumes. Despite initially wanting to go into research, Becky has set her sights on becoming an aquatic veterinarian. In the gap year before attending vet school, she plans to find a job gaining experience in the marine biology field. With a clear vision for her future, Becky looks forward to working with and helping aquatic life.
Talia Moine '25
Major
Marine Biology
Minors
Professional and Public Writing, Business
With graduation on the horizon for the class of 2025, Talia Moine aims to make marine biology more accessible to audiences that may not possess her extensive knowledge. Early on at RWU, Talia saw the long-term benefits of minoring in PPW as the minor covers a variety of genres through their classes, not just workplace and technical writing like she originally believed. While she struggled to nail down one favorite class, she recalls Writing about Food, Grant Writing, Rhetoric of Science, and developing her writing portfolio as some of the most impactful. She plans to use her writing portfolio to demonstrate not just her writing skills but also the unique perspective she brings to marine science. She credits the children’s book she creates for her Rhetoric of Science classes as one of her favorite projects as she got to combine her background reading scientific papers with her creativity and passion for making science more understandable. Talia then put those same skills to work last summer when she interned at the Maria Mitchell Association Aquarium in Nantucket where she wrote the blurbs guests see next to every tank and even helped illustrate a coloring book.
Recently, Talia was offered a Blue Fellowship position and will continue to conduct research with RWU Marine Biology professor Dr. David Tayor throughout the summer. In the fall, Talia will intern at the Underwater Maldives Initiative where she will focus on research and educating communities about marine biology. Talia discusses how her Grant Writing class prepared her for life as a researcher as she will need to write grants to receive funding for the projects she will wish to complete. In her interview, she highlights the importance of good writing within the science sector when she explains “if you can’t talk about it and you can’t write about it, you’re not going to get anywhere because you won’t get funding”.
Speaking about her favorite and least favorite parts about writing, Talia admits she struggled with the self-pressure of feeling like she has to have a perfect first draft. However, she loves the revision process and how the end result can differ so drastically from the initial intent. To incoming student writers just beginning their education at RWU, she advises to keep an open mind. She understands why writing often has a reputation as tedious and difficult, but with so many writing classes at RWU, Talia knows everyone can find the type of writing that works best for them. She expresses her gratitude for the abilities she gained saying “I have a very diverse toolbox now where regardless of where I end up in my career, I will be applying these skills”. No matter where Talia ends up post-graduation, her transferrable skills from her Professional and Public Writing minor will serve her well as she undoubtedly takes the marine biology world by storm.
Allison Rivard '25
Majors
Legal Studies, Anthropology+Sociology
Minors
Professional and Public Writing, Political Science
Hoping to become a lawyer and eventually a judge, Allison Rivard hopes to utilize her Professional and Public Writing minor as she enters the legal profession. To stay on top of her workload, Allison strategically chose to take one writing class each semester to build up a solid writing foundation across her college career. She believes “the department does a good job of offering classes that appeal to a lot of different majors and interests”. She urges students to stick with writing beyond the general education requirement as the upper-level classes offer more opportunity to write for different audiences and in a range of genres. She took her favorite writing classes as an upperclassman, as the 300 and 400-level classes tend to give students freedom to better tailor their writing projects to fit their own interests. Knowing those in legal positions must write legal briefs, judicial opinions, memos, and client letters, Allison chose classes that complimented her other areas of study and future profession. One of the most impactful classes she took was Advancing Public Argument where she wrote about immigration, a problem she’s passionate about, for a public audience. Ever the future lawyer, Allison admits she struggles to find the balance between including factual evidence to back up her claims and sharing her own personal opinions and reflections. She credits her professors for giving her extensive feedback to help her find this equilibrium and also improve her overall writing.
Reflecting on life after graduation, Allison stresses how clear and effective writing will serve her well as a paralegal or lawyer. Luckily for her, she enjoys writing because of the active learning cycle it provides with the iterative process of researching, drafting and revising that she will apply to her writing for and after law school. After graduating in May, she plans to take a gap year in which she aims to receive her paralegal certificate as well as take the LSAT in preparation for law school. Those strong writing skills will propel Allison towards a successful legal career, no matter what positions she takes on.
Katelyn Simeone '24
Major
Elementary Education
Minor
Professional and Public Writing
2024 RWU alumni Katelyn Simeone is now a full-time teacher and grad student studying literacy at Providence College. She said she uses her Professional and Public Writing skills all the time to “connect with my coworkers, the parents of my students, my new professors, and even my students in my classroom”. Katelyn came into RWU with a background in creative writing (she wrote and published a novel!), but she chose the PPW minor to sharpen her professional writing skills. She identified Rhetoric of Narrative as one of her favorite classes because it helped her think about the role of narrative in professional writing. She also enjoyed her Writing Grants and Proposals class. She reflects the class was “based around a task I had never tried before and [it] really rounded out my knowledge of writing when it comes to proposals – which I use all the time as an educator”. Post graduation, she is surprised at how much she has continued to develop her editing skills as she constantly reviews her own writing in the workplace as well as her student’s writing.
Katelyn encourages current and upcoming students to think about why they want a writing minor and what they want out of it. She says, “I believe that the “why” in everyday tasks is so important, so when looking at this minor, examine your why and that will steer you into the right type of writing for you.” PPW classes tend to be audience and purpose focused, encouraging students to use writing as a tool to get things done. While she likes the impact writing can have on people, she finds it difficult to organize her points coherently but credits her writing professors on helping her better navigate that challenge. With Katelyn’s demanding workload as a teacher and student, good writing skills are a necessity, not just an asset.