Nicole Hopkins The destination is important, but not more so than the steps taken to get there.

Achievements

Academic

• 2018-2022 - Western Undergraduate Exchange Scholarship Recipient
• 2021-2022 - Grit Grant Recipient
• Fall 2021 - President's List
• Spring 2019 to Spring 2021 - Dean's List

Professional

• Summer 2021 - Promoted to Shift Manager, Colombo's Pizza
• Fall 2021 - Received MSU ePortfolio Internship

Personal

• 2020-2022 - Treasurer, Rhapsody Acapella
• 2022 - Jordan Smith Undergraduate Fellowship Recipient

Through my time at MSU, I have attained the core qualities of the university - effective communication, thinking & problem-solving, and local & global citizenship - through many of the courses I have taken

i am a(n)...

Effective Communicator

In the pursuit of my Bachelor's degree in English Writing I had the privilege of taking diverse and fascinating courses that improved my communication skills. The classes that stand out the most to me are the Intermediate Creative Writing Workshop and The Bible as Literature.

In the creative writing workshop, my fellow students and I spent the semester writing novellas and workshopped our writing almost weekly. Since creative fiction is so personal, I had to develop my communication skills in order to critique fellow writers while remaining sensitive and courteous.

In The Bible as Literature, I was in a delightful class full of people with different views; as a result of this, I had the opportunity to communicate my own views respectfully, even if that meant disagreeing with someone else. The class also afforded me the opportunity to analyze and articulate thoughts and connections in pieces of literature, and I wrote one of the papers I am most proud of in my college career: A Father's Sins, A Daughter's Reparations, written about Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible.

Thinker & Problem-Solver

My academic studies have also lent themselves to developing my thinking and problem-solving skills, particularly through my ePortfolio Internship and Digital Rhetoric & Multimodal Writing.

In Fall 2021, I was offered the opportunity to work with MSU's new ePortfolio program as an option to fulfill my graduation requirement for an internship. I gladly accepted, which was arguably the best thing I've done in my entire academic career. Not only has the program helped me decide what I want to pursue as a career path, but it has offered plenty of opportunities for me to become a better thinker and problem-solver, working through issues of engagement, content creation, outreach, and more. I feel that my culmination project (ePortfolios@MSU) eloquently articulates these achievements and my work as a whole.

Digital Rhetoric & Multimodal Writing was a spectacular course for a plethora of reasons, but a main one was that I took it in tandem with my ePortfolio internship. With my experience exploring Adobe tools like Spark (now Adobe Express) and Portfolio, I was able to synthesize the two courses and create content I am very proud of. The course's focus on digital literacy was one that I had not encountered before, and it presented unique challenges I had to overcome. Overcome them I did, however, and I have a great final project to show for it: Social Media Cannibalism.

Local & Global Citizen

Though many of my courses seem to be more focused on the other CORE qualities that Montana State hopes to instill in its undergrads, I did also take courses that helped me to become a better local and global citizen: Introduction to Backpacking and Peer Mentoring with Sophomore Surge.

Going to college in Montana certainly opened up opportunities for me to explore and enjoy the great outdoors, and the university also fostered this interest. I was able to take an Introduction to Backpacking course where I learned about the ins and outs of backpacking including best practices like Leave No Trace, trail etiquette, and group dynamics, which helped me become a better teammate, camper, and citizen of the great outdoors.

On campus, I was recruited into a peer mentoring program called Sophomore Surge which supports incoming freshmen during their first year of college. Assisting these students in their transition to college was such a rewarding experience, but the program fostered community and citizenship among the mentors as well. We attended weekly meetings where we shared our troubles and concerns and supported each other in our mentoring duties, which made the whole experience that much more collaborative, team-oriented, and productive.

Honorable Mentions

Please follow these links to view other projects and papers I am especially proud of:

I am a leader

On campus

• Treasurer - Rhapsody Acapella
• Fall 2020 - Spring 2022

One of the best experiences I have had on campus is being part of Rhapsody Acapella, MSU's only acapella club. Because of my passion for the group, I was elected treasurer during the fall semester of 2020 and retained the position until my graduation in Spring 2022. (Photos: top left - Rhapsody members at Catapalooza, middle - final concert Spring '21)

• Peer Mentor - Sophomore Surge
• Fall 2019 - Fall 2021

The program that has perhaps shaped me most throughout my time at Montana State has been Sophomore Surge, a peer mentorship program that places mentors in freshman seminars to guide incoming first-year students through the transition to college. I mentored with the program 5 semesters and learned a lot about leadership, patience, compassion, and collaboration. Through the program I also received the ePortfolio internship, which was the biggest influence in my attending grad school. (Photos: top right- my mentees Fall '21, bottom right - my mentees Fall '19)

At work

• Digital Literacy Assistant - Montana State
• Spring 2022

Because of my dedication and passion for the ePortfolio program at MSU as an intern, I was offered a job in Academic Technology & Outreach to continue building and expanding ePortfolios. The position gave me opportunities to present for students and faculty, as well as continuing to run workshops, create content, and improve upon the program as it grows. (Photo: bottom left - ePortfolio workshop)

• Shift Manager - Colombo's Pizza
• Summer 2021 - Present

Though much of my life revolves around on-campus activities, I also take pride in the work I do off-campus. After less than a year working at Colombo's Pizza, a local family-run business in Bozeman, I was promoted to shift manager. This includes running a crew of fantastic coworkers, exceptional customer service, and responsible management of the closing of the restaurant.