Kate Toporski

 

Most of my friends would laugh if I tried to convince them that my passions strayed from the list of “Recently Viewed” on Netflix or the menu at Lucky Kitchen. My family would chuckle at the idea of me majoring in something other than Cornhole or Laughing at Inappropriate Times. I think that’s why my dad’s face lit up when I told him I had been accepted into the Sweetland Minor in Writing program.

 

I’ve always been a goof, a jokester if you will. Never one to be very serious, but I seemed to find some sort of “home” in writing. Whether it was in my journal, on my blog, or scribbled on the back of some History 305 syllabus, writing was my escape. I found ways to twist words and express my thoughts and feelings in a way that my ever-sputtering lips could not. Writing was the one thing that I felt I could do well.

 

For so long (like two semesters), I fought with the idea of applying to the minor. Would pursuing something I loved academically ruin everything that I enjoyed about it? Would taking classes on writing dampen its majesty of sorts, just like psychology and music had?

 

I didn’t want to end up hating the one thing that I seemed to have left in the hell hole of seemingly unsolvable physics problems and inedible dining hall creations.

 

I was stuck in a major that I didn’t necessarily enjoy, but knew it would produce a job that I would be just happy enough with. I had frat-stars galore telling me that I was just okay enough. I had a safe group of people that made me feel like I fit in just enough. I had a support system, telling me that I was just enough, that I was right where I needed to be...unhappy with my current to benefit my future.

 

After struggling so hard with trying to figure out my own future, at the “you’re still so young!” age of 18, I decided to be brave and be more than “just enough”, because hell, I was way more than enough.

I was a courageous soul and applied for the Writing program.

So, come join and see my journey and growth from a girl who grew up thinking that she only had to be enough, to a confident, young woman, who has grown into above and beyond through her writing.

 

 

I am currently a sophomore at the University of Michigan, majoring in Communications and minoring in both Writing and CASC (Community Action and Social Change). I am a lifeguard for Rec Sports, as well as a coxswain on the University of Michigan Men's Rowing Team. My future plans include going onto the School of Social Work to obtain an MSW in Adoptive and Family Counseling. My hobbies include writing, reading, petting dogs, and eating breakfast foods.