Kayla Corcoran

COL ’15
Age: 22
Hometown: Billerica, Mass.
Major: English
Minors: Arabic and History

Do you feel you fit in at Georgetown?
Yes and no. “Fit in” is a strange concept. I see pluralism in everything I do here: friends, clubs, etc. To me, there’s not a thing to “fit into.”

What do you hope Georgetown will help you accomplish?
I hope Georgetown will help me accomplish — no — will instill me with a sense of Jesuit values to carry with me into life after graduation.

What’s your favorite class you’ve taken at Georgetown?
Methods of Literary and Cultural Study with professor Nathan Hensley. It first introduced me to Derrida’s work and inspired most of my academic interests today.

Where are you from? Compare and contrast it to Georgetown. Where are you more comfortable?
At home (Massachusetts). I’ve never moved at home; here, I’ve moved around from dorm to dorm that I don’t feel like I’ve ever actually “settled down” here.

What’s the hardest thing you’ve done?
Last summer, I lived in rural Rwanda for two months with no electricity or water.

Would you change anything about yourself?
I would stop biting my nails.

Have you already made any conscious changes to yourself? Why?
I started yoga — it mitigates stress. I’m so much less angry of a person when I do yoga.

Who is your perfect literary man?
Captain Wentworth from “Persuasion” by Jane Austen. That man knows how to write love letters. Also “The Art of Fielding” by Chad Harbach: Henry Skrimshander. He seemed like he’d be a genuine and cool person in real life.

Interview by Emma Gross