Hellen Wainaina, C’18, graduated as a junior, double majoring in both English and Music. “From early on in my academic career I knew that I wanted to study English because I loved stories—telling stories, hearing stories, and especially reading them. An English major seemed like the perfect way to get submerged in literature,” she said. But she didn’t intend on also majoring in music, “The way I got to my Music major is a little less direct; I had a great freshman introductory music course and a established a wonderful relationship with the Music Department chair, who encouraged me to pursue music; he later became my academic advisor for the major.”
At Sewanee, Wainaina worked as co-director of the Queer and Ally House, an editor, tutor, and proctor. She was also involved in the University Choir and Orchestra. One of her favorite activities was working as the Sewanee Tutor for Cowan Elementary. “I got to work with second graders on reading comprehension and vocabulary. I loved this work because it took me outside of “academia” and reminded me why I care so deeply about stories and all of the ways we interact with, create, and learn from them.”
Wainaina’s involvement in the LGBTQ+ community consisted of her time as co-director of the Queer and Ally House. She takes pride in the work that she and her co-director, Hannah Habit, C’19, did “to establish and concretize the Q&A House as a space and as an organization so that future students can feel and be welcomed.” She says that she has seen a lot of growth in the LGBTQ+ community since entering as a freshman.
Wainaina attributes her involvement in the LGBTQ+ community as conducive to her own personal growth, “I think my involvement in the community as an ally has made me a more conscious individual; it’s made the issues, concerns, and triumphs the LGBTQ+ community personal because, as my co-director once said, LGBTQ+ individuals are people we are connected to: they are our friends, our family members, our neighbors, our co-workers, and so on and so forth.”
Advice that Wainaina would give to incoming LGBTQ+ students is to try not to let the Greek gender binary system (sororal v. fraternal) get to them. “It is possible to create a community of your own,” she said. When she was a sophomore, her car broke down and the community she had built through clubs, classes, and more came to help her. She recalls, “about fifteen people showed up to the parking area in front of Cannon Hall to help me jumpstart my car. We weren’t successful, but it was a night filled with laughter; it reminded me that I had so many of my people in my life who cared about me and who were willing to show up to help me.”
Wainaina works now as assistant editor at the Sewanee Review, an American literary magazine positioned on Sewanee’s campus. Established in 1892, it is the oldest continuously published quarterly in the United States. It publishes original fiction and poetry, essays, reviews, and literary criticism. “It is an out-of-this-world position, and I am so lucky to be where am and doing what I do,” she said.
