Garret Fettig
Garret Fettig (’23) reflects on his time within the VCSU Language and Literature department as an English major. Garret grew up in Bismarck, North Dakota, and was also named Homecoming King during the Fall 2021 semester. He is active in Student Senate, VCAB, and Viking Ambassadors.
Why did you major in English?
Since elementary school, my favorite subject (and my best) has always been English. When it came time to pick a major during senior year, I decided to go with English. I’d always enjoyed writing, reading, and editing for classes, and I figured I wouldn’t mind doing work with those skills in the professional world.
I knew I wanted to become the best writer I could be. I wanted to gain the knowledge necessary to edit and critique other content. English provides me with the best path to achieve each of those goals.
What’s your favorite part of studying English?
The subject itself! I could never geek out enough about English. It’s impossible. I’m ready to discuss or debate any English-y topic, no matter how niche it may be.
You want to talk about which dashes you like to use best in writing? You want to talk about the connotations of one word versus another? You want someone to analyze the tone you’ve used in an essay, or evaluate the moral of a poem you wrote? I’m totally your guy — I live for this stuff!
What have you enjoyed about VCSU’s Language and Literature (L&L) Department?
Definitely, the people, because when I mentioned geeking out over English, it’s them I get to do that with!
My favorite English class I’ve taken is ENGL 330: Creative Writing, purely because of how great my experience was with my classmates. Getting detailed (and sometimes hilariously candid) feedback from other advanced writers was necessary to drastically improve my work. I’m grateful to each of them!
What advice do you have for future L&L majors?
This is going to seem very specific, but invest some real thought into your homework!
With a lot of your essays as an English major, you get to choose the topic! Sometimes that means writing a specific essay type but focusing on whatever you want, or writing about a particular piece of literature but saying whatever takeaway you have. Just make sure you enjoy the topics you pick! You have to write the essay — might as well learn about something you’re genuinely interested in while you’re at it.