English major, biologist, Ultimate Frisbee enthusiast
Liza Schnauck ’25, called “Duck” by friends, is a sophomore at Skidmore from Marshfield, Massachusetts, majoring in English. Liza is super passionate about the English major and was asked to act as an English Department student representative. Student representatives like Liza attend department meetings, meet candidates for new positions, and provide input.
Liza is really excited to spend more time with faculty and have an influence on hiring decisions, saying, “I think it’s pretty cool that Skidmore lets their students be involved in things like that.”
English and creative writing remain very important to Liza, but Liza also discovered a passion for biology while at Skidmore. Biology hadn’t been taught extensively in high school, and Liza was curious about the new subject.
After taking Organismal Biology, Liza fell “totally in love with it” and the field of evolutionary biology. While Liza hopes to pursue English in graduate school and become a creative writing professor someday, the English major also wants to be able to do research on invasive species on the side. Liza is particularly interested in the invasive lionfish found in the northern Bahamas, where Liza lived for a period as a child. Liza says that lionfish have a big impact on the economy of the Bahamas and the accessibility of food to the Bahamian people.
While balancing two distinct academic disciplines, Liza keeps extra busy with the other opportunities Skidmore has to offer. Liza's first first semester as a Skidmore student took place in London as part of Skidmore’s First-Year Experience program. Despite all the challenges COVID posed, Liza says Skidmore really made it easy to get to know each other. Liza gushed about how much everyone enjoyed London.
Once on campus for the second semester, Liza joined the Ultimate Frisbee team thanks to the encouragement of a roommate.
“I just felt like it was a community that really wanted me there, and it felt like such a cool and accepting space, especially for queer people.”
The team is co-ed, and players are very aware that playing with someone assigned male at birth can feel daunting to someone assigned female at birth, so the group ensures that everyone’s pronouns are respected and is “really friendly and welcoming.”
What’s Liza’s favorite part about being at Skidmore?
“Honestly, how much Skidmore feels like home to me. Genuinely, it just makes me so happy to be here and to be around people who are as excited about academics and student activities as I am.”
If you catch Liza around campus, ask about how the recent audition for the Jazz Ensemble went. Liza received classical training on the violin and is now hoping to learn the new musical style and is eagerly waiting to hear back about the audition.