As President of The Society, the literary club at Northwest High School, Hunter Strickland was able to immerse himself in a field that he hopes will become his life vocation – that of a literature teacher of high school students.

Now a freshman at Dalton State, Strickland plans to take classes in English while pursuing an Associate of Applied Science in Secondary Education, with the intent to teach and eventually earn a master’s degree in the field one day.

“I have had some very good teachers of literature in the past,” says Strickland, who says an eighth grade English teacher introduced her honors students to the world of literature when many other English classes were still working on grammar concepts.

“She really made it fun to delve deeper into stories and she did a lot with Shakespeare in the class with us. It gave me the desire to uncover the secrets and deeper meanings in literary works that often people just don’t see.”

“My high school literature teachers also had a huge impact on me. Mrs. Bryan and Mr. Honeycutt both introduced me to new aspects of literature that I didn’t even know existed. They put a yearning in my mind to unravel the mysteries that British and American literature holds.”

He considers William Faulkner to be his favorite American author, and he is especially fond of British poetry, written by Romantic poets like Wordsworth and Keats, and his favorite poet Lord Byron, also known as George Gordon.

But for casual reading he prefers fantasy, novels like The Lord of the Rings and works by Salvatore.

The 18-year-old says the decision to enroll at Dalton State to earn his associate degree was not a hard one for him.

“I’ve seen many of my friends, in the past, go off to really big universities and not know what to expect,” he says. “And I’ve seen many of them come back because they were not prepared. I wanted to go to a school that would prepare me well academically for the next step.”

Strickland says that while many of his peer group considers Dalton State to be just the “local college,” he’s found it to be “so much more.”

“Dalton State has the reputation of being a tough school academically, and that’s what I was looking for. I’ve been well pleased with how smoothly everything ran during orientation. And I really like my classes so far. I’ve found the professors to be approachable and very helpful.”

Strickland says he’s arranged his class schedule to meet Mondays through Thursdays, which gives him Fridays off.

“That gives me extra time to study, which is important to me,” he says, adding that he doesn’t hurt that his sister, a high school senior, is a bit envious. “I think the new schedule is pretty balanced overall.”

In addition to schoolwork, Strickland works part time for his father’s company, MedNow Tunnel Hill, as the payroll and financial supervisor.

“My dad needed that spot filled about a year ago, and our company’s accountant taught me how to use the accounting software. I help out with that and do a little bit of everything else that needs to be done.”

And in his spare time, Strickland enjoys skeet shooting with friends, playing paint ball, and helping as a counselor and chaperone for his church’s youth group.

He will also serve as a Student Ambassador for the College and might participate in intramural sports, such as football or kickball.

“I’m looking forward to the next few years here,” he says.