Creative writing, travel, music and farming are only some of the “arsenal of interests” Lettie Stratton ’12 has discovered at St. Lawrence.

“There are always a lot of things going on here,” says the Bennington, VT native and graduate of Mount Anthony Union High School.

Lettie, an English major, has worked for the campus newspaper, The Hill News, since her sophomore year and as a senior has been the features editor. In the fall of 2011 she was published in the University’s literary magazine, The Laurentian, and completed her Senior- Year Experience (SYE) in English, writing a 36-page manuscript for a food writing class, The Art of Taste.It was the longest piece she’d ever written, which she says affirmed her independence as a writer.

Her interest in travel sparked her minor in global studies. She has been to China, Japan, India, Vietnam, South Africa, Ghana and Brazil, among other countries. She’s taken advantage of her liberal arts education: her past coursework includes classes in environmental studies, psychology and Swahili.

When she’s not playing guitar for the new music ensemble, Femme Fatale, she’s experiencing “fantastic, free live music” at Java, participating in group yoga and meditation at her theme cottage, The LIGHT House (Living Inspirationally Growing Healthy Together), or meeting people in the Canton area through agricultural Community-Based Learning programs (CBL).

Lettie volunteers at farms in Canton and other nearby towns and she turned her interest in sustainable agriculture into a school-sponsored trip to Senegal with another student and a professor. “We had a three-week homestay and it was great to have extended contact and interaction with the local people,” she said.

Lettie’s future will likely involve creative writing and music. “I can look back on any of my experiences and make something interesting out of them,” she says.

--Pete Harrison ’12