As a kid growing up on a pig farm in southern Illinois, I didn’t know much of the world outside my hometown, but that didn’t stop me from imagining it.
In elementary school, I wrote chapter books about haunted houses with magical powers or girls going on solo adventures around the world. Through books, I traveled to places I’d never been and experienced lives I would never live. When I went to college, I knew that English was the major for me. But what – my parents asked me – would I do with an English degree? I had no idea at the time, but I resolved to figure it out.
Lucky for me, I found my way to Kansas State’s Masters in English program where I learned the two skills that led me to where I am today – how to teach and how to build a creative writing practice.
To fund my graduate work and gain experience, I applied to be a graduate teaching assistant with Kansas State’s expository English program. Barely older than my students, I felt nauseous at the thought of standing in front of a classroom. Thankfully, Kansas State’s semester-long teaching practicum gave me a crash course in adult learning theories and teaching methodologies. Armed with practical techniques from the course, I taught my own writing classes just one short week after starting the program, and to my surprise, my students actually listened! As a graduate instructor, I loved watching my students transform from peers to supportive writing partners in class. Teaching my students the logic and skills of writing also helped me improve my own writing. After my first year, I won a teaching award, and I realized that I had a knack for coaching and instructing others that I hadn’t seen before.
After graduating, I went to Ecuador with the Peace Corps, where I taught English as a second language alongside Ecuadorian high school and university teachers. When I returned to the United States, I was ready to explore a career outside of the classroom, but I didn’t know what that looked like. Undeterred, I remembered what one of my favorite English professors always said: where there are words, there are jobs for writers. Leaning on my writing and teaching expertise, I landed a job at a brand marketing company where I designed training curricula, wrote instructional workbooks, and delivered training classes. Without knowing it, I’d fallen into the perfect profession for me: instructional design, or designing, developing, and delivering learning programs in a corporate setting.
As I advanced from being an instructional designer to managing training and enablement teams, I leaned on the skills I’d learned at Kansas State – how to write clearly and persuasively, how to structure a class around learning objectives, and how to use adult learning methodologies. At every level of my career, these abilities served me well, propelling me towards exciting new opportunities and challenges.
Studies show that continuous learning contributes to career satisfaction, regardless of tenure or title. I love my job because I design the programs that help others learn and therefore find more meaning in their work. I’m also fortunate to work alongside team members who are as passionate about writing and teaching as I am. I spend my days discussing the most effective way to write a knowledge article or structure an eLearning course to maximize its impact on our learners. It’s a possibility that I couldn’t have imagined as a small town kid who didn’t know what to do with an English degree, but knew that she loved words more than anything else.
A few years ago, I decided to return to the source of my love for writing: storytelling. My creative writing classes at Kansas State had taught me how to build a regular creative practice and how to collaborate with other writers to improve their writing and my own. Years after graduation, I built on that knowledge by joining local writing groups, re-establishing a regular writing routine, and immersing myself in craft through writing classes. As a graduate student, when I was contemplating whether or not to go to the Peace Corps, Elizabeth Dodd wisely said that a well-lived and enriching life provides rich experiences to write about. When I expressed doubt about the importance of my voice, my Master’s Project advisor, Katy Karlin, encouraged me to be brave and keep writing. As I’ve returned to my writing practice, I’ve found my time in Ecuador to be an endless source of inspiration. I’ve since finished the first draft of a memoir about my Peace Corps service and have used excerpts of the manuscript to gain entry to competitive writing classes and a magical three-week stay at a multidisciplinary artist residency that changed who I am as a writer.
If I could tell my young self one thing, I would assure her that I won’t have to find a job in spite of my English degree. I would tell her that it’s because of my English degree that I’ll have so many opportunities. Because where there are words, there are jobs for English majors.
— Kim Peek (MA ’10)
Kim Peek manages SeatGeek’s Content Enablement team by day, and writes memoir and personal essays by night. She lives in Chicago with her husband, two dogs, and son and is at work on a second draft of a memoir about her Peace Corps service. You can follow along with her writing and reading adventures through her Substack newsletter: Beyond the Page.
K-State English 