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Amanda Muledy

Biography

Profile: During Amanda Muledy’s freshman year at Harper College, she wrote a terrific op-ed in the campus newsletter titled “The Back-to-School Experience for Age 25 and Over.” The story could be a primer for every student in America like Amanda, who started college or reentered college long after high school.  Amanda is a talented writer and like most great ones, she is detail oriented and has that sixth sense of knowing what’s important and what’s not worth writing down.  Einstein once said “it is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.”  Thanks to Amanda, it survives (at least at Harper College) and her curiosity was contagious in her college classrooms – it made for fun and exciting sessions to say the least. Amanda’s curiosity enabled her to flourish outside of the classroom as well.   “It was as if I was given a new pair of opportunity-spotting glasses; the chance to be a leader and to give back to the community was everywhere I looked.  I had just never seen it before.” 

Inspiration:  Amanda said there is a big gap between an "A" paper and publishable writing, but many English teachers are more interested helping students fill the gap between passing and not passing.  “Professor Alicia Tomasian was the first teacher who took the time to help me transition from a decent writer to a publishable writer,” said Amanda, who will always be grateful to Dr. Tomasian for her dedication.  “She told me the subtle ways I was going wrong when I couldn’t see it and she helped me to focus less on trying to just sound academic and more on getting across a truly novel idea.” 

Aspiration:  Amanda will be seeking a bachelor’s degree in English and hopes to become a literary critic and perhaps a published author herself.  Regardless, somehow and someway Amanda will continue writing.

Making a Difference: Amanda was nominated by the Harper faculty to receive an Excellence in the Discipline of English Award at the college’s convocation in 2011.  “It was one of the high points of my time at Harper College.”  Amanda said that when her English professors “got together to discuss who they thought most deserved a recognition like this they thought of me!  I'm extremely proud to have made that kind of impression on these people I so greatly admire.”

Accolades:  Amanda received the aforementioned Excellence in the Discipline of English Award at Harper and was also a member of the 2011 All-Illinois Academic Team.  She also was presented with the Student Activities Award for Outstanding Service to the Honors Society.

Interesting Fact:  Amanda said she loves American muscle cars and in her life has owned “a few Firebirds, and I currently have a '87 IROC-Z.”  Her dream car though is a 1979 Trans Am “with all the fixings, but I would happily settle for a new Dodge Challenger.”

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