Class of 2008

Kristen (Woszczynski) Lund has worked as the senior writer at Tucker Publishing Group in Evansville, IN, and director of news services at the University of Evansville. She currently works as a freelance writer and editor while pursuing a graduate degree in physical therapy.

Can you tell us how majoring in Creative Writing at UE has helped you?

I feel that a writing degree served me better than a traditional journalism major would have. Writing for a magazine is fundamentally different than writing for a newspaper, which is different than writing for TV, radio, etc. My classes at UE taught me the skills that make good magazine writing: telling a story with a narrative arc and memorable characters. Also essential is the ability to write pieces that have both timeliness and staying power — and to make every word count, whether a story is 250 or 2,500 words long.

Even though I am pursuing a different field now, I am confident my education and professional background will help me in my future career as a physical therapist. As a journalist, I learned how to gauge people's unique personalities and communication styles, and to make them feel they could trust me as they shared their stories. I also learned how to ask the right questions to fill in critical pieces of information, and I know this will help me evaluate and treat patients in the future.

Did you have any memorable experience (in or out of the classroom) that changed you as a writer or a creative thinker?

Yes, namely my semesters at Harlaxton College and Stellenbosch University in Stellenbosch, South Africa. I traveled as much as possible, tutored South African preteens, walked through buildings 1,000-plus years old, met refugees, talked with Northern Irish young adults about their wartime childhoods, and more. Hearing those stories and experiencing other ways of life gave my writing a broader frame of reference and (I like to think) a maturity that I may not have otherwise gained at a young age.

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