About Me

My name is Darby Deutsch and I am preparing to graduate from Wake Forest University with a major in Communication and minors in Spanish and Interdisciplinary Writing. This fall, I will be attending Vanderbilt University in order to pursue a Master in Marketing degree. Ultimately, I hope to utilize my acquired skillset to attain employment within the luxury automotive industry. 

Growing up an athlete, I quickly adopted a competition-oriented approach to any available challenge. With this mindset, I noticed how I would constantly strive for the betterment of myself. This attention to detail applied across all aspects of my life - not just in a desire to improve on the playing field. From the time I was a little girl I had always been aware of my curiosity, noticing my tendencies to never stop asking questions. Then, as I matured, I recognized how my inquisitiveness was rewarded in the classroom - which consequently motivated me to work harder. 

A distinct example of this can be seen in my WRI 111 experience.

It was the spring semester of my first year of college and I was waitlisted for a WRI 111 course titled “Slang to Schoolbooks.” Finally, after nearly two weeks of classes, I was notified of my enrollment and began navigating the halls of Tribble trying to locate room A303. Upon arrival, I was quickly brought up to speed on the projected rigor of the course by my peers. They warned me about their perceived difficulty of the professor and filled me in on their plans to drop the class. Although I appreciated my friend’s warning, I knew I had no other viable option but to keep my seat in this curricular requirement and do everything that I could to hopefully earn an A. 

Over the next few months I had spent countless hours across the desk from this professor during her office hours: revising, editing, asking questions, etc. My dedication to this course was fueled by my competitive drive. I found myself eager to go to class and eager to write as I wanted to prove to myself (and my peers) that I was capable of excelling in such a difficult course. I had even participated in classroom discussions more than I ever had before. Through consistent involvement I began to realize just how much I was genuinely enjoying what we were learning. I grew to love the process of writing - the drafting, editing, and collaborating phases were new to me as a writer, and the meticulousness of producing ‘good’ writing turned out to be an incredible challenge. In fact, I began to spend so much time on each assignment that for the first time in my academic career I was genuinely proud to turn in my work. 

Just as the end of the semester drew near, my professor asked me which Writing course I was planning to take in the fall. Oddly enough, despite my success within the introductory level, I found myself doubting if I was capable of progressing forward in this discipline. These doubts fueled my motivation to continue writing - just as fear within my sport would inspire me to work harder. Over the next three years I constantly sought improvement - I learned to take risks and to ask for help when needed. And, upon introspection, my enrollment in WRI 210: Academic Writing was one of the most transformative experiences of my college career. Not only did the course force me to think critically about how an author’s stylistic choices influence engagement between the reader and the writer, it provided me with a foundational knowledge of writing that I have since applied to every writing task within my undergraduate studies. I became aware of the tactics available to either open/close discursive space or hedge/boost a claim - among other means of providing linguistic stance markers. By understanding how such skills operate within my own writing, I have become a more critical thinker and reader. 

Here, my excitement for writing was noticed by Professor Laura Aull. Collectively we worked, through the support of URECA X, to create a resource for linguistic analysis of student writing. By analyzing student’s directed self placement essays, we intended to compile source materials that would illuminate the differences between upper-level and first-year writers. Most importantly, my research skills were greatly enhanced as I used linguistic tools for analysis. This experience also encompassed my desire to improve as a writer as I was positioned to support my mentor in research that was methodologically compelling with practical implications for writing pedagogy.  

After my sophomore year, I declared a Communication major with both a Spanish and Interdisciplinary Writing minor. By joining these three discourse communities, I experienced great variety within my assignments and academic endeavors. As a result, this portfolio is extremely representative of my development as a writer as it contains work not only from my major and minors but also from my divisional requirements. The breadth of my work can be further explored under the Site Content tab. Among the accumulated work is a rhetorical analysis, ethical case study, research paper, and literary review. These examples are illustrative of my collective desire to improve as a writer as they blend new challenges with the foundational knowledge of my introductory writing courses. The diversity available within a major such as Communication has allowed me to tap into my creativity with freedom. In addition, you can view writing samples from my upper level Spanish courses. Here, you will notice a stark progression as my language acquisition and proficiency improved drastically each semester. This development within my secondary language (Spanish) writing advances to mirror the choices that I would make in my primary language (English). This transition is clear as introductory-level Spanish courses refrain from asking students to develop argumentative pieces, whereas my upper-level courses required us to conduct our own primary research and draw conclusions based on our findings. The distinct arc shows my development from mere tasks of reformulation to connecting ideas and coming to my own findings. 

This portfolio serves as a moment of reflection within my WRI 350 Capstone project. Although my journey as a writer is not complete, I am amazed at how far I have come in such a short time. 

By taking a risk and investing time in my Writing studies I have had so many opportunities and experiences that I will carry with me as I transition into the professional world. Writing has - and will continue to be, my greatest challenge.