Meet the Fall 2021 YSW Interns: Jalil Dixon
Hello! My name is Jalil Dixon and I am one of the new editorial interns for Young Scholars in Writing. I am in my third year as a student at York College of Pennsylvania. I am a Professional Writing Major with a double minor in Creative Writing and French. I am also becoming increasingly active on campus. This semester I am a second-year Resident Assistant, the treasurer of the Ski and Outdoor Club, and a member of the Phi Sigma Pi National Honor Fraternity.
My story of declaring as a Professional Writing major is a pretty funny story. When I was initially applying to colleges, I wasn’t very sure of which major and which educational direction I wanted to go. When I did eventually enroll at YCP, I enrolled as a Philosophy major and a Creative Writing minor but this didn’t last long. A few days later upon discovering that Professional Writing was a direction that I could legitimately go in, I quickly changed majors and began my studies in the field of Professional Writing. At first, I was glad to be part of a program where I can practice my passion for writing and crafting stories. Ever since, I’ve grown to cherish the writing program. I’ve taken cool courses that have allowed me to learn to write screenplays and stageplays, to experience the daily tasks of a literary publication, and even how to edit at a professional level. Through all of this, I’ve been able to discover my career goal of becoming an editor and eventually starting my own editing company.
As a writing student, perhaps one of the most challenging things I’ve had to work on, but also one of the most rewarding things, have been to be tasked with writing a full-length play during the Spring 2020 semester in my Advanced Playwriting course. My professor did an amazing job teaching the course; she gave me the confidence and additional tools to be able to write one and for that I’m grateful. As a result, I now have a full-length play in my portfolio and it’s something that I can proudly say that I’ve done.
It’s also an honor to be able to once again work on a notable publication such as Young Scholars in Writing which publishes some amazing and eye-catching pieces. Some of the pieces from Volume 18 that caught my attention were the articles written by authors Samantha J. Rae and Brittany Hailey. In my opinion, they were intriguing pieces that brought a new perspective on their respective topics and both authors did a terrific job of exploring those topics in-depth. I’ve also been able to work with Young Scholars in Writing in other capacities. I’ve had the opportunity to spend a few weeks copyediting for an article featured in Volume 18 and served as a peer reviewer for several articles for Volume 19. So while all of my experiences with Young Scholars in Writing so far have been different, they’ve all been memorable and it feels great to know that I’m working on material that can make a difference.
When I’m not working as an editorial intern for Young Scholars in Writing, or attending my writing classes, I spend a lot of my time playing basketball, writing my stories, and trying to get better at skateboarding and playing the piano. Outside of those activities, I spend plenty of time listening to music across a plethora of genres, starting and not finishing way too many shows, and reading my favorite book series, such as my childhood favorite, Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
When my time as an editorial intern with Young Scholars in Writing is over and I finally walk across that stage, I plan to go right into a career in editing. With the help of the knowledge from the entrepreneurship and business courses that I plan on taking, I plan on starting my own editing company down the line while continuing my lifelong passion for writing stories.
