Michigan State University College of Arts & Letters student Mary Claire Zauel is graduating with a perfect 4.0 grade point average and is a recipient of the Board of Trustees’ Award.
Each semester, the MSU Board of Trustees recognizes graduating students for earning the highest scholastic average. This fall semester, 52 students received the award, including Zauel. Each of the award recipients was recognized during the board’s December meeting. In addition to the award, each honoree receives $1,000 from the university for their accomplishment.
“It’s been an honor and a joy to be part of the College of Arts & Letters,” Zauel said, “and I am so excited about my graduation.”
Zauel is graduating with a B.A. in English and a Creative Writing Concentration. She was a member of the Honors College and Sigma Tau Delta, in which she served as Vice President. She also participated in MSU Telecasters and worked as an Operations Manager at Impact 89FM. She was a Producer and Writer on Sideshow where she wrote, produced, and directed The Broom.
“It’s been an honor and a joy to be part of the College of Arts & Letters, and I am so excited about my graduation.”
Through a Global Remote Internship, Zauel worked during the summer of 2021 with the Screen Directors Guild of Ireland, in which she organized live Q&A events with Irish film directors, managed the Screen Directors Guild’s social media platforms, and wrote articles on filmmaking practices that were published on the Guild’s website.
“The time I spent researching filmmaking resources and interacting with Guild members was like a masterclass in the Irish film industry,” Zauel said. “When I was presented with the Global Remote Internship Program, I had no idea what to expect. For me, it was about taking that leap of faith towards a potential opportunity, and I ended up with a wonderful experience that will be part of my professional journey for life.”
This past summer, Zauel had a micro-internship through the Arts and Letters Projects micro-internship program, which is funded by the College of Arts & Letters’ Excel Network. Her micro-internship had her working on campus with the Department of Theatre’s Summer Circle Theatre (SCT). Her primary responsibility was to create an online survey for attendees, which was accessed through a printed QR code on SCT flyers.
“I worked with Abbie Tykocki and Rob Roznowski to create and distribute a survey tracking audience participation, engagement, and attendance to Summer Circle Theatre,” Zauel said. “In the early stages of the project, my fellow intern and I drafted a short survey asking about audience members’ prior experience with Summer Circle, their reasons for attending, and any feedback that they had.”
“When I was presented with the Global Remote Internship Program, I had no idea what to expect…I ended up with a wonderful experience that will be part of my professional journey for life.”
Zauel also attended all the SCT shows to interact with audience members, promote the survey, and share information about the upcoming year’s schedule of performances.
“My internship was a step outside of my typical academic studies, and it allowed me to grow in soft skills that will be extremely helpful to my future,” Zauel said. “Through this project, I was able to practice open communication with strangers while also understanding the importance of analytics when it comes to programming for the arts.”
A devoted attendee of Summer Circle Theatre performances long before her time at MSU, Zauel was “thrilled” to be a part of the team to learn about and help grow the program she’s known for years.
“The program celebrated its 60th anniversary this year, and we had audience members who had been attending for over 30 years,” Zauel said. “Hearing how Summer Circle has grown over time and listening to the stories of these devoted theatergoers was a true inspiration of how theater never dies, which was sorely needed after the COVID-19 pandemic.”
This wasn’t the first time Zauel had worked in the theatre. She has written, directed, and acted in a variety of plays. Her original play, Season’s Greetings, was chosen to be a part of MSU’s Second Stage Playwriting Festival for which she cast, produced, and directed the entire virtual production.
“My internship was a step outside of my typical academic studies, and it allowed me to grow in soft skills that will be extremely helpful to my future.”
Zauel’s creative work has earned her a number of awards and scholarships, including the Arthur N. Athanason Scholarship in Creative Writing, MSU Creative Writing Award for Playwriting (Runner-up), MSU Creative Writing Award for Poetry (Winner), the Creative Arts Scholarship, and the Louis B. Sudler Prize.
This past spring, Zauel participated in a student panel for a Conversations with CAL where she discussed her life as a Michigan State University student and what she hopes to accomplish after she graduates.
Written by Kim Popiolek
