MC alum wants to help others discover the power of wordsAugust 23, 2024

Hannah Sanchez has a passion for literature and writing.  She is transforming that passion into a bachelor’s degree and possibly a career as an English teacher.  This past December, she graduated from Midland College (MC) with an Associate of Arts degree, and she is now attending Texas Tech University working toward a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, majoring in Literature and minoring in Film Studies.  

“I first discovered the joy of reading and the power of words when I was in high school taking dual credit online composition courses,” Sanchez said.  

Sanchez is no stranger to online courses.  She actually graduated from an online high school.

“I have been taking online courses since January of 2020,” she explained.  “I was a student at Legacy High School and did well, but I just really didn’t enjoy high school life.  So, I enrolled in an online school and received a high school diploma as a homeschool student.  I guess it was a bit prophetic that I decided to switch to online courses in January of 2020, just two months before the Pandemic began.  By the time everyone else had gone to an online world, I had already mastered it!

“After completing high school, I enrolled in Midland College in the fall of 2022.  When I took my first English literature class at Midland College, I knew that I wanted to turn my interest in literature and writing into a future career.  My ultimate goal is to get a master’s degree in English and then teach at the college level.  All of my college-level English courses have given me new insights and perspectives. They enabled me to see the world in new ways, and I want to help others do the same.”

“Hannah is one of the most impressive students I have taught,” Dr. William ‘Chris’ Brown, MC English professor and department chair, said.  “Throughout the British Literature II class that she took with me, I was impressed at what an excellent reader she was. She reads like I do! She underlines, annotates and then takes further notes on top of her notes. I always enjoyed her insights into the literature she read because she is such a perceptive, unique thinker. 

“Hannah is also an excellent ‘bigger picture’ thinker, but she understands the importance of details, as well. She has an incredibly strong desire to learn and improve her craft of writing. She started the semester strong and wanted to get even better. I have never had a student who was more eager for criticism of her work than Hannah. If there was a grammar or punctuation problem that I pointed out in my comments on her reading/study guides or drafts, she actively sought to correct the problem. Hannah is the kind of student who has no use for a compliment. She only wants to know how she can improve. 

“Not only is Hannah an excellent reader and writer, but she is a charismatic, enthusiastic oral communicator. Hannah was excited to talk about the British literature we read. She always had perceptive comments, yet she was also interested in what her peers had to say. She often related her thoughts on the text to what her peers said.” 

During Dr. Brown’s British Literature course, Sanchez wrote a paper entitled “The Longing for Socioeconomic Justice.”  In April 2024, she was one of only eight community college students selected throughout the U.S. to present at the Sigma Tau Delta national convention for English honor societies.

“The paper was analyzing the works of Romantic Era British poets—William Wordsworth and Percy Bysshe Shelley,” she stated.  “Wordsworth launched the Romantic Age in English literature, and Shelley is considered one of the major English Romantic poets.”

“I admire Hannah’s confidence in public speaking contexts,” Brown noted. “Hannah won second place for Short Fiction in the 2023 Rebecca T. Watson Creative Writing Contest and read an excerpt at the awards ceremony. More recently, she read a creative nonfiction piece at an open mic night at the Fasken Learning Resource Center. I am impressed with her ‘presentation voice.’ She speaks confidently and clearly with a commanding presence. I predict that one day, I am going to be at a conference and welcoming Dr. Hannah Sanchez to present on a panel!”  

While Sanchez said that she enjoys studying historical authors, her favorite authors are those from the 20th and 21st centuries.  Currently, she enjoys reading the works of Patti Smith and Ottessa Moshfegh.  

Besides literature, Sanchez said that her other interest is film.

“I log all the films that I watch,” she stated.  “So far, in 2024, I’ve already watched well over 100 films.  I find that I get stuck on different film niches.  My most recent niche has been old Olympic documentaries.  I’m not sure if this is still the case, but in the past when a country was selected to host the Olympics, the country had to produce a documentary about the competitions.  If the documentary was filmed in a language other than English, the film has either been dubbed into English or there are English subtitles.  I am finding these so interesting.  Most of the films that I watch are older.  I keep telling myself that I need to watch something more contemporary!”  

Thanks to dual credit courses that she took while in high school, 20-year-old Sanchez was able to graduate from MC with an associate degree in just 18 months.  After completing Midland College in December 2023, she immediately enrolled at Texas Tech, but stayed in Midland taking online courses during the 2024 spring semester.  She has now moved to Lubbock to continue her bachelor’s degree, which she hopes to complete in December 2025 or May 2026.  She said that she is looking forward to face-to-face classes and meeting fellow students who are as passionate about English as she is.

Even though she is excited about attending a major university, Sanchez said that she still plans to take time away from studying in order to enjoy her two favorite pastimes—reading and watching films with her 4-year-old cat Maco curled up beside her.  

To help finance her higher education pursuits, every summer since she was 14, Sanchez has done custodial work at a local community center.  While attending MC and this past spring when she was still in Midland taking Texas Tech online courses, she worked approximately 17 hours each week as a tutor in the MC Language Hub.  

“I loved tutoring students and helping them with their writing,” she said.  “I think that may be a big reason why I decided I’d like to teach post-secondary English courses.  Words are powerful; they influence people and instigate change in the world.  I want to show others how to discover and use the power of words.”