Advocate

I am an advocate for social change, and writing is an outlet that allows me to voice what I believe in. During my time at Elon University, I have had several opportunities to use my knowledge of writing and rhetoric to advocate for causes that are important to me.

This section highlights some of my advocacy efforts that took the form of written work. The first two documents are grants that I wrote collaboratively with other students when I was a grant writing intern for Uwharrie Charter Academy (UCA), a school that focuses on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and environmental education.

The large-scale grant reflects my ability to establish ethos and credibility by using language appropriate to the cause for which I am advocating and ensuring that I establish my affiliation with UCA. The small-scale grant was a learning opportunity for me because we had to adjust to the shorter format of a one-page fundraising letter while still conveying the same information about UCA. Both grants were an opportunity to experience using persuasive language, and they represent the breadth of work that I did for UCA as a grant writer.

During the summer of 2015, I was an Editor Intern for The Borgen Project, a nonprofit whose primary goal is to end global poverty by lobbying for foreign aid legislation in Congress. The internship not only required that I edit for the nonprofit’s blog and online magazine, but also that I advocate and fundraise for their cause. The first set of documents from my internship shows some of my advocacy efforts, which required careful consideration of my audience and context, especially because my efforts were directed toward family and friends, an audience for which I do not often write. Applying pathos to my fundraising letter and other advocacy writing allowed me to explain why I care about The Borgen Project and why my readers should care as well.

The second set of documents is a collection of articles that I edited during my time with The Borgen Project. I had the opportunity to improve my editing skills by thinking about and strengthening my understanding of logos, organization, audience, and ethical decision making.

This section reflects my understanding of how making intentional and effective rhetorical decisions can improve my advocacy efforts and create social change.