Anne Jones grew up wanting to be an artist, dreaming of combining her love of literature with the artistic world. She came into Wake Forest intending to pursue an environmental studies major and an English minor. However, she later had a “pre-med scare,” realized that environmental studies wasn’t right for her and decided to pursue her passion for studying English.
“Sophomore fall, I realized that I didn’t want to do pre-med,” Jones said. “I felt a lot of external and internal pressure to do pre-med, and the myth of job security that STEM [subjects] offered was a huge part of why I thought I would choose that field. I am very interested in the sciences, but when I clicked the button to be an English major, I felt so excited and almost relieved to be doing something I loved.”
Jones is an English major with triple minors in art history, biology and cultural heritage and preservation studies from Hendersonville, N.C. Jones’ passion for English began in high school with the teacher she had all four years, who showed her the ins and outs of analysis and critical thinking related to reading and writing.
Throughout high school and into college, Jones felt excited when English classes expanded her perspective of the world.
“It’s really hard once you get to a certain level of literary analysis that you can’t unsee the way the world is constructed, which helps me navigate the world as an individual and understand why things seem normalized and naturalized,” Jones said. “If I am feeling out of place, looking at those larger themes is always helpful.”
Jones expressed her gratitude for the numerous professors at Wake Forest who have aided her studies.
“Dr. Dean Franco has been instrumental to my process, and I have learned so much from him,” Jones said. “He started my higher thinking [on] topics like form and aesthetics, and I would say I read books differently after I took his class.”
Outside of the classroom, Jones has served as the president of Sigma Tau Delta International English Honor Society, as a peer writing tutor at the Writing Center and as an art accessibility Intern in Hanes Gallery.
“I have found an amazing balance between my passion for English and art, and coming out of Wake Forest, I have found I have been able to test out so many different forms of these fields and explore how they intersect in the classroom and in the real world,” Jones said. “Wake Forest has given me so many different things to taste test, and I just want to learn more about everything. I have even more questions than I had coming in.”
Following her graduation, Jones hopes to hone in on one path that continues to blend her creative interests, while still leaving room to explore the many questions that drive her curiosity.
Before applying to graduate school in the fall, she is taking a gap year to work at the Worrell House in London as an international program assistant through the Wake Forest Chemistry Department. She is also exploring art accessibility internships.
“I’m in a really good place right now to explore my curiosities,” Jones said. “Right now, I have three jobs and all my classes, so I am busy all the time. But I am excited to have more time to focus on one thing at a time.”
