Senior secondary English education major Grace Carrender was named the University of Indianapolis Student Poet Laureate for 2024 — a title she received three years after discovering her love of poetry.
Carrender had never written a poem before she started college, but her first poem, “Catharsis,” was published in Etchings Literary & Fine Arts Magazine in 2021. Writing had become a cathartic process for her, helping her to settle her mind.
“I most often write when I’m feeling overwhelmed,” Carrender said. “I’m a big overthinker, so getting things onto the paper really helps me.”
Her inspiration comes from many aspects of her life, often drawing from themes like mental health awareness, relationships and nature. She said she loves sitting outside and writing about how nature interacts with itself and how it connects to humanity.
Carrender said her writing style is fluid and freeform; one of her favorite things to incorporate is wordplay and breaking off words. Yet, balancing a double major and a part-time job proves challenging in finding time for writing.
“Balance is really hard … I’m not a daily writer,” Carrender said. “I kind of write when inspiration strikes… But I do like to read a lot and I think balancing the reading and writing process is really important.”
Carrender’s love for the written word extends past poetry. As an aspiring educator, she said she believes in the power of books and literature, especially regarding books that challenge societal norms.
Banned books are central to the education conversation, with 414 attempts to censor library materials in the first six months of 2024, according to the American Library Association. Carrender, who will start student teaching next semester at Lawrence Central High School, finds it frustrating to have politics in the classroom.
“I’m a big proponent of reading banned books,” Carrender said. “There’s so much politics involved in that… It is what it is and you kind of just have to do your best as a teacher to educate your students and fight for them and their right to read books that are being banned.”
Winner of the Lucy Munro Booker Poetry Award and now UIndy’s Student Poet Laureate, Carrender wants to focus on finding her place in the classroom and becoming a better teacher in the next few years. However, writing projects will always be there and ready to be continued.
“I am starting a couple of chapters of a romantic fantasy novel. Whether I will continue that or not — who knows,” Carrender said. “I think I will always have a place in writing and literature, whether that’s teaching it or doing it myself.”
