Lettie Stratton `12

Greetings! My name is Lettie Stratton and I’m currently enjoying my final semester as a St. Lawrence student, attempting to avoid frostbite up here in the North Country and pack in as many activities as possible before graduation.
I knew I wanted to come to SLU after visiting about a year before I graduated from Mount Anthony Union High School in Bennington, VT. I appreciated how tight-knit the community seemed to be and looked forward to the small class sizes and easy access to the outdoors. What really sold me, though, were the Adirondack chairs scattered throughout campus. Who doesn’t love a good Adirondack chair?
I chose to be an English major on the creative writing track despite being warned by my more scientifically inclined friends, “you’re going to have to write so much!” I told them that that’s kind of the idea and continued on my way. I stumbled into my interest in writing after taking Intro to Creative Nonfiction during my sophomore year with Natalia Singer. The class helped me discover a passion I didn’t know I had, and I’ve been taking nonfiction writing classes ever since.
Most recently, I took an SYE called “The Art of Taste” with Paul Graham, which focused on food writing. At the end of the class, I produced a final piece of nonfiction about my travels abroad with the spring 2010 voyage of Semester at Sea, and the certain foods and scents that spark the memories of those travels. An excerpt from this manuscript was published in the Fall 2011 issue of the Laurentian magazine.
When I’m not writing or traveling, you might find me fulfilling my duties as features editor for the Hill News, playing guitar in the Femme Fatale ensemble, working on a local family farm through SLU’s community-based learning program, or listening to free live music at the Java Barn. I always look forward to St. Lawrence’s writer’s series events and the literary salons, hosted by visiting professors. It’s great to mingle with the phenomenal faculty members of the English department, and hey, you might even learn something at one of these things.
I don’t know what the future holds for me, but if I can continue to travel, write, be creative, meet interesting people, and catch an occasional glimpse of a large body of water, I’ll be happy. Maybe one day I’ll write a book and people will want to read it. That’d be great, too. I plan on moving to Burlington, VT to pursue these things before looking into MFA programs.