Meet Daven: Literacy studies

So the reason I chose literacy studies is I have my bachelor's degree in early childhood education, and I wanted to better serve my students. I'm really passionate about literacy and reading and writing and all the different ways you encounter literacy. And so I figured that I needed to be a student and the literacy studies program to better serve the students I would encounter in schools.

The reason I wanted to do the master's program at Western instead of somewhere else was that Western started out as a teachers college and have a long history of preparing educators. So I figured this was the best place to be. And I had such a great time in undergrad that I figured it'd just get better the longer I was here.

Yes. Being a first generation student in Western can be a challenge, but there's a lot of programs that were very helpful to me. I'm a member of the TRIO Future Educator Success Program and thru it I've met some wonderful people that I still have relationships with. They really helped me make Western feel smaller and less intimidating.

My experience and the literacy studies program has been nothing but amazing. I've learned so much from the professors and classes.

I would recommend literacy studies at Western because of the preparation you receive and because of the real life experiences you get. Like these are things that apply directly to your classroom. These are things that have kind of always been there, but you didn't really notice it until someone comes along and kind of tells you like, 'Hey, did you know that you could do the same thing another way?'