Wearing an argyle sweater over a button-down shirt, senior Derek Rodgers is the perfect picture of a cultivated New Englander. His venture onto Iowa soil, however, was entirely his own choosing. “Of course, the writing community here is well known, and the English department is very well respected,” Derek says. “It’s actually the only school I applied to. I’ve known since high school that I wanted to be a writer and possibly a teacher, so Iowa was a natural choice.” Derek's choice seems to have been the right one. Since coming to Iowa, Derek has made a lasting impression on his professors. Professor Kathleen Diffley, for whom Derek acted as an extra student tutor while taking her American Short Stories class, has nothing but praise for Derek’s performance. “In class after class, Derek has found the revealing detail, the tricky question, the key angle,” she says. “And in the process, he's been so generous: a solid peer mentor, a stand-up partner willing to take time with someone else's work. He's smart, he volunteers, and he really knows his way around a sentence.” In fact, Derek reveals that, if it weren’t for Diffley, he would never have entered the Honors Program. “She has been my longest serving advocate,” he affirms. “She really supported and spearheaded my entry into the English Honors program.” Professor Tom Simmons describes Derek as “one of the most inventive, probing, and synthetic minds I've encountered in my eighteen years at The University of Iowa. He is a wonderful person, a gift to Iowa, and one of the treasures of my career.”
Given all this, it shouldn't be surprising that Derek’s key piece of advice for visiting students is to go to professors' office hours. “You need to engage with teachers on a personal level,” he says. “That relationship will come in handy, trust me. My own relationships with teachers are an example.” This is most certainly true. Professor Simmons, for instance, is currently advising him on his English honors thesis, which focuses on renewing interest in the novel Fifth Business by popular Canadian author Robertson Davies. “Professor Simmons is a great asset,” Derek says, “and he is very supportive of my writing.” In addition, this past summer Derek interned in California at a political company called VR Research, a job he got with help from Professor Blaine Greteman, who taught his Milton course.
It should be noted, however, that Derek’s commitment to scholarship does not preclude his giving back to the community. Certainly, it is evident that Derek is generous with his time. Initially, upon coming to Iowa, Derek was interested in secondary education. It was this interest that led Derek to tutor for REACH, a program that creates a living-learning experience for young adults with learning and cognitive disabilities, empowering them with the skills necessary to be independent, engaged, and contributing members of the community. Despite having decided not to pursue a career in secondary education, Derek fell in love with the REACH program and has been working there for the last two years.
After graduation, Derek hopes to begin a political writing internship. “Ideally, I would love to work with Bernie Sanders, the U.S. Senator for Vermont,” he says. He is also applying for a position with The New Republic, a magazine based out of Washington D.C. known as “America's best and most influential journal of opinion.” Though Derek eventually wants to return to grad school to get his masters and eventually his PhD, he feels that it will be good for him to see what writing about politics in the real world is all about before he returns to school.
Serious demeanor aside, Derek proves that he knows how to joke around. When asked to provide an interesting fact about himself, Derek reveals what Professor Simmons calls “an absolutely wicked sense of humor.” While in Rome, Derek confides that he he'd seen the Italian Premier Silvio Burlesconi. (Burlesconi, as some may recall, has recently been surrounded by charges of conspiracy, prostitution, and even links to the Mafia.) “I didn’t actually meet him," Derek says, "I just saw him from a distance.” Here, he pauses, raises an eyebrow, and gives a small smile, “I mean, I certainly wasn’t going to run up and shake his hand or anything.” Burlesconi should be so honored. Iowa, on the other hand, is lucky to have opened its doors to this fresh breath of New England air.
By Lauren Van Sant