Graduating senior, Carlie Gausch ’21 shares what made her Cedar Crest experience special
Carlie Gausch ’21 of Reading, PA, was the winner of Cedar Crest’s 9th Annual Scholarship Competition Day. Then a high school senior, Gausch was one of more than 150 high school students to participate in the competition, which consists of a three-hour exam covering the arts, mathematics, science and the humanities, as well as an interview portion for finalists. In honor of her accomplishment, Gausch, who is a first-generation college student, was awarded a four-year, full-tuition scholarship to Cedar Crest.
When she began at Cedar Crest, Gausch jumped right in—double majoring in American history and English and getting involved across campus. She took on several leadership roles throughout her Cedar Crest journey, including serving as senior editor of Pitch, Cedar Crest’s virtual arts and literature journal, and as a First-Year Experience Mentor.
“Pitch has been the proudest part of my experience at Cedar Crest,” Gausch says. Pitch is written and edited by Cedar Crest students and features original creative work, including fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, photography, digital art, video and more. As senior editor, her work included planning virtual open mic nights for student performances and hosting an art and writing exchange between students. For the last several weeks of her senior year, Gausch and the editorial team were busy copyediting and designing every aspect of the Pitch website—creating a volume she says she will be proud to look back on for years to come.
Gausch’s first leadership role on campus was as a First-Year Experience (FYE) Mentor. FYE Mentors are upper-class students who work with a small group of incoming students throughout their entire first year at the College. “That was a really meaningful experience for me because I grew close to my Falcon Group of freshmen, and it was rewarding to pass down some of what I had learned to younger students,” she explains. “Now when I see them on campus, I am always thrilled to find out what they are getting up to—from research to athletics to leadership roles of their own.”
As a humanities double major, Gausch found a home in Hartzel Hall. The English and history departments provided the flexibility that made it easy for her to double major and pursue the co-curricular activities that made her Cedar Crest experience unique. In addition to her involvement in Pitch and FYE, Gausch interned in the Alumnae Museum under the instruction of assistant professor of history, Megan Monahan, Ph.D., completed two independent studies in English with assistant professor of English, Peter Nagy, Ph.D. and served as a teaching assistant for an Honors writing class taught by professor of English, LuAnn Fletcher, Ph.D. “The faculty have always been receptive to anything I wanted to do, and so I have always felt encouraged to try new experiences with my education,” she explains.
Next up for Gausch, who is graduating a year early, is attending Lehigh University to earn her Master of Arts in English. Gausch is interested in becoming a professor, and, in addition to taking her graduate classes, will be teaching college writing at Lehigh this fall.