Meet our 2024 Humanities Interns!
The Humanities Internship at the National Willa Cather Center offers an experiential learning opportunity for an advanced undergraduate (completed at least forty credit hours) or a graduate student in the humanities at the University of Nebraska (UNL, UNK, or UNO). It is funded through a collaboration between the University of Nebraska and the National Willa Cather Center.
SARAH PACHOLSKI (they/them) was born in Omaha, Nebraska and raised in Blair, Nebraska. Growing up they always thought Nebraska to be boring or uneventful which inspired them to move to Florida. Yet after living in Florida for 4.5 years they found themselves back in Nebraska.
Sarah has always been drawn to the humanities. This time with a new appreciation and admiration, they are working on their third college degree, and their first bachelor's degree. With two associates degrees—one in studio art and the other in liberal arts—Sarah will be graduating with their B.A. in 2025 with a double major in English and creative writing.
After moving back from Florida they found themselves looking into more Nebraska-native artists/writers. It wasn't until three years ago that Willa made her impact on Sarah, who then dove into the world of Cather and found themselves drawn into April Twilights and the use of imagery throughout fiction and poetry that Cather utilizes.
While researching opportunities within the literature field for students, Sarah was told about the National Willa Cather Center internship by one of their professors and didn't entirely believe they were chosen when Rachel Olsen called with the good news! Since arriving in Red Cloud, Sarah has been a very avid prairie goer, and it's been their writing sanctuary when on breaks from a busy internship.
Sarah doesn't have a definitive path lined up for the future but plans to stay within the fields of humanities and continuing with their knowledge growth by pursuing a master's degree in either sociolinguistics or creative writing (poetry). They've already been inspired and motivated by the internship experience so much and hope to learn more about the conservation and preservation of the historical and natural world. They currently live in Omaha, Nebraska with their partner and two rambunctious cats!
SOPHIE RYAN (she/her/hers) has lived in Nebraska since childhood, and grew up in Omaha. This May, she graduated from the University of Nebraska Omaha with her B.A. in English with a concentration in American Literature, and a minor in History. Within the next year, Sophie plans to enroll in either a Public History or English masters degree program in order to pursue archival work in the future.
Her introduction to the work of Willa Cather came in her senior year of high school when her literature class read My Ántonia. Drawn in not only by Cather’s strong prose, Sophie was also interested to learn more about the person behind the writing, fellow Nebraskan Willa Cather. This led to explorations into Cather’s archived letters where the author’s foreboding writing style continued to be on display. Cather’s ability to infuse everyday letters with such feeling, led Sophie to find Cather to be a particularly noteworthy literary figure. Sophie was also able to revisit Cather in college reading A Lost Lady, her favorite Cather novel, and visiting Red Cloud for the first time with her Authenticity class in 2021.
Currently, Sophie has found great pleasure in continuing to expand her Cather knowledge during her Humanities Internship. She particularly looks forward to giving guests guided tours throughout the various Cather sites and completing an archival project over the summer!
To learn more about our Humanities Intern program, read here or contact Rachel Olson, director of education and engagement, at rolson@willacather.org • The next application process will take place in Spring 2025.