Melena Davenport is a graduating Linguistics Major this Spring. We spoke with her about her time at UF and what is coming next for her.
1. What’s next for you?
I will be working as an Audio Technician at Atlantic Hearing for my gap year, before pursuing my Doctorate of Audiology degree starting fall of 2021.
2. What’s your biggest achievement as an undergraduate?
Presenting my research at the American Auditory Society annual meeting in Scottsdale, AZ (was supposed to be more conferences to present at but cancelled due to COVID-19).
3. What will you miss most about the UF Linguistics?
The classes!! It was always a challenge every semester trying to decide which linguistics courses to take; not only do we have the best professors and I wanted to learn from every single one of them, but having the freedom to really take any linguistics electives we wanted was so cool but so difficult to choose! All of the course topics were immensely interesting, but I loved having the opportunity to really choose what I wanted to learn about while earning my degree. The professors are each so passionate about their area of expertise, and their passion for the field is what I will also miss the most.
4. What advice would you give junior Linguistics majors?
Take all of the linguistics courses you can!! Try new topics you aren’t familiar with because you never know, you might end up finding out exactly what you’re great at! Try not to take all of the linguistics classes about one specific area or topic, try to take a variety of different classes to really get a well-rounded understanding of the field of linguistics. Also, trust your professors! They are all experts in their field and they know so much about what they are talking about!!