I’m Eliza Cooper, Young Writers and Artists Curator/Community Organizer at University of Wisconsin - Madison. I’m from Westchester, NY and majoring in Human Development and Family Studies. I’m collaborating on educational initiatives and celebrating different learning styles with The Creative Process!

Tell us about a teacher or program which made a difference in your life and helped you become the student you are today.

When I was a junior in high school, I took an AP English class. The teacher of this class was a genius in my eyes, and his influence still impacts me today not only as a student but as a person overall. We spent the year studying different types of persuasion in our lives, some that are conscious and some that are subconscious. For example, we learned how to write persuasive essays, but also how different companies advertise themselves to gain more attention. My favorite part of this class, though, was when we spent a few months watching movies and analyzing aspects of the movie that viewers normally wouldn’t. As a class, we began to understand that in many art forms, there is an intention for every aspect that is created. Analyzing these small details was very interesting to me, and I still to do this continuously. During this class was when I began to appreciate every little movement, sentence, and object in the movies I watched, and started to do the same with my life. I learned how to do my schoolwork, and my life in general, with intention in every way. I thought through more of my actions that would not only affect me long term, but short term, to benefit the bigger picture of my life. This class still resonates with me, 3 years later, and probably will for the rest of my life. 

What are some of your recent projects and plans for the future?

I have always been a very creative person who resonated a lot more with humanities type classes than the more science and math heavy work. I am currently minoring in photography at UW-Madison and have taken two in-depth photography classes that have made my love for photography even stronger. I wrote for the Odyssey website for a year, trying to create content that was relatable for other college students who thought they were alone. I have also been a very musically oriented person since I was young, playing many different instruments and singing in the choir at my school for four years. I also participated in a musical that a group of seniors and I wrote and directed together.