Three graduating seniors received the 2024 Professional and Public Writing (P2W) Outstanding Senior Award, which is presented each year by the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Cultures at Michigan State University to recognize graduating students who demonstrate excellence in the classroom, success in experiential learning, and engagement with the community.

This year’s recipients are Yasmeen Amjad, Emma Losey, and Emily Paterson.

“I’m proud of all our seniors have accomplished in their time at MSU,” said Kate Fedewa, Director of the P2W Program. “Yasmeen, Emma, and Emily exemplify our P2W values of creativity, collaboration, and community engagement.”

Yasmeen Amjad

Yasmeen Amjad is from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and graduated in Spring 2024 with a B.S. in Psychology and a B.A. in Professional and Public Writing as well as a minor in Human Behavior and Social Services.

“Nothing I write will be able to accurately describe the deep appreciation I have for this program. Thanks to P2W, I’ve found a space on campus that I feel safe in while challenging me to explore new opportunities,” Amjad said.

During her time at MSU, Amjad held multiple leadership positions within her sorority, Alpha Omicron Pi, including Vice President of Operations, and was Vice President of Risk Management for the Panhellenic Council.

“Nothing I write will be able to accurately describe the deep appreciation I have for this program. Thanks to P2W, I’ve found a space on campus that I feel safe in while challenging me to explore new opportunities.”

Yasmeen Amjad

She also held several editorial positions, including working as an Editorial Assistant at Michigan State University Press and for The Current, a student-run publication. She served as an Associate Editorial Assistant at the Journal of Global Literacies, Technologies, and Emerging Pedagogies, and a Copyeditor for The State News. For the College of Social Science, she worked as an Undergraduate Assistant, Peer Assistant Learner, and a Research Assistant.

Now that she has earned her undergraduate degree, Amjad plans to attend the Columbia Publishing Course and hopes to break into the publishing industry to put her editorial skills to work.

Emma Losey

Emma Losey is from Berkley, Michigan, and graduated in Spring 2024 with a B.A. in Professional and Public Writing (P2W).

“I found my place at MSU with P2W,” she said. “My classes have given me so many skills and I have gained a newfound confidence. Everyone wants to build you up, and it always feels like people want you to succeed.”

During her time at MSU, Losey served as the Recruitment and Outreach Intern for the P2W program, where she produced content for its Instagram and Facebook pages. She also worked in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Cultures office as a student clerical worker and was an Associate Writer and Editor for The Current, a student-run publication.

“I found my place at MSU with P2W. My classes have given me so many skills and I have gained a newfound confidence.”

Emma Losey

“My most memorable project was for my writing and multimodality class. It was a series of poems that told my story as a writer,” Losey said. “I made the poems multimodal by creating a collage for each poem. It was very memorable to me because it was early on in my P2W journey, and I finally felt like I fit in to a program at MSU. It was a turning point for me.”

Losey was on the MSU Club Tennis team and competed several times with the travel team. She also worked as a tennis coach in her hometown of Berkley.

Emily Paterson

Emily Paterson is from Warren, Michigan, and graduated in Spring 2024 with a B.A. in Experience Architecture and a B.A. in Professional and Public Writing and minors in Museum Studies and Graphic Design. She also received a 2024 Board of Trustees Award for having maintained a perfect 4.0 grade point average during her undergraduate career at MSU.

“Professional and Public Writing means finding creative and communicative ways to spark connection with the public,” Paterson said. “This past semester, I really enjoyed writing magazine articles for The Current as part of WRA 480. It has been fun for me to exercise my journalistic writing skills to cover topics that I hoped to share with the world.”

“Professional and Public Writing means finding creative and communicative ways to spark connection with the public.”

Emily Paterson

While at MSU, Paterson worked at the MSU Museum as a student CoLaborator, facilitating interdisciplinary conversations about climate change and food security with visitors. She also worked on behalf of Teach Access to educate students and faculty about the importance of accessibility and disability inclusion. She served as the voice of their online communications and helped lead training sessions as a Student Ambassador Lead.

This summer, Paterson will be a Junior Fellow at the Library of Congress and will be working remotely to help advance their Year of Digital Accessibility program.