Hi! My name is Jarvis Young and I am a student at the University of Illinois. My major is English with a minor in Religious Studies. I will be graduating in December of 2014. I plan to persue an M.A./Ph.D. program in American Studies. My goal is to teach American Literary Studies and History, and Religion at a Research Instituton. I am a McNair scholar and a former student of the Rutgers English Diversity Institute. My faculty mentor is African American Literature Professor Christopher Freeburg. I have the opportunity to present research at the Annual McNair Summer Research Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, and on the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign campus in the summer of 2014.