As a newly minted English major, Lily Mauk attended a poetry night in the dimly lit upper floor of what was then Laughing Planet and, in time with the snaps from the audience, something snapped into place for her: she’d found her community.

“I got to see my friend blossom as she spoke her words into the microphone, and I learned to give a soulful mmm or a nod when something resonated with me,” she said. “And when the reading ended, I walked back home, elated, and wrote and wrote and wrote. Not only did it finally feel right to be in my own skin, but I felt like I had found people and a space that made me want to write — and it didn’t matter if they would ever hear or read or see it, just like it didn’t matter whether or not they were students or in their twenties or fifties. It just mattered that they all came to this thing, that they gathered once a month for each other and art and nothing more.”

Growing up in the small town of Fernley, Nevada when higher education was discussed in Mauk's household, the focus was on STEM disciplines. Between that focus and her aptitude in math as a high school student, Mauk felt that engineering would be the best fit. That changed, though, as she began to settle into a group of fellow students who shared her interests both inside and outside of the classroom.

“Meeting other students within the humanities changed this for me. Discovering community outside of school — like Brushfire’s monthly poetry readings and local writing workshops — reinvigorated my academic passion in a way that felt more connective and well-rounded in the context of the world around me,” she said. “I quickly found I could grow this way, too, by pursuing writing and literature. Being able to draw explicit connections from my coursework to daily life and history felt much more measurable than working with algorithms — the physical tangibility I was looking for in learning how to build something physical, I instead found in others’ minds, and even my own.”

She has found a way to merge those worlds in her work for the University Writing and Speaking Center (UWSC) and the Nevada State Undergraduate Research Journal (NSURJ).

“When I can see and feel that I’ve made a positive impact on a student’s confidence toward their writing, whether it be a literature review for a public health course, a social work policy analysis, or a student’s research manuscript, I feel rewarded in the sense that I’ve done something,” she said.

Teaching Assistant Professor Cody Hunter noted Mauk's ability to help her peers in her Advanced Nonfiction class.

“I met Lily in my section of ENG 401B in the Spring of 2025, and she was an excellent and enthusiastic student who provided support to her peers,” Hunter said. “The first project in my course is a literature review, and I use Lily's as an example due to her thoughtful exploration into how the concept of ‘solidarity’ has been treated in contemporary literature, in addition to her exceptional adherence to genre conventions.”

For Mauk, assignments like the one in Hunter's class have illuminated the power of writing.

“I used to think of creative writing as a hobby, and now I don’t know if I would describe it as such,” she said. “At the risk of sounding cliché, I look at being a writer as a lifestyle in that I write to understand, move through and engage with the world around me. Undergraduate study strengthened all the things that come outside of the writing — like the way I search for, consume, decode and synthesize all types of media. It has taught me, too, the value and function of storytelling across disciplines, a framework that functions even, and especially, within contexts like my rhetoric of science class.”

These interdisciplinary contexts mirror Mauk's own varied interests. Jenna Altherr Flores, the director of the Office of Undergraduate and Graduate Fellowships, noted how Mauk's interest in both English and Spanish “... come together as a deep interest in language, culture and the stories and modes of communication that make us human.”

Mauk came from a politically divided rural community, and Altherr Flores explained that in that environment, “Lily learned to listen first (really listen), set boundaries, and yet still invite open conversation.”

As graduation comes to a close, Mauk reflects on how her undergraduate education equipped her with the tools to become a lifelong learner. Central to that pursuit is her curiosity about the world. Teaching Associate Professor Joanne Mallari, who had Lily in her English 102 class and Introduction to Creative Writing class, noted how her curiosity about car dependency in the United States led to a compelling opinion piece about transportation policies.

“As a creative writer, Lily continued to explore life in transit,” Mallari said. “What I remember most is Lily’s commitment to trying different strategies. She drafted a short story titled ‘Upside-down and Flying,’ which features a protagonist who decides to move from New York City to Bozeman, Montana. Lily wrote two versions of this story in third-person limited and second-person point of view, and both drafts delivered unique insights on the character’s hopes and fears. In my own writing practice, I still think revision is the most difficult stage of drafting, and Lily inspires me to take risks!”

Mauk encourages reflection and risk-taking to others who are embarking on a new college journey. “I'd replay the moment in Gilmore Girls where, after graduating high school, Lorelai slows Rory down to tell her, ‘Look around for a second. Notice? It’s not so scary anymore,’” said Mauk when asked what she'd say to her freshman self.

As she moves on to her next adventure post-graduation, she will carry with her the relationships she forged, the memories she made and the community she found along the way.