Atlie Hand ’26
Hometown: Columbus City, IA
Major: English
After the unexpected closure of Iowa Wesleyan University, junior English major Atlie Hand faced the daunting task of finding a new academic home. William Penn University stood out as one of the few institutions that accepted all her freshman credits. “I was also very excited to find a place with a proper English major, and I have been having a great time with all of my English classes here,” she shares.
Atlie’s integration into the William Penn community began through her involvement with the Counseling Center and participation in campus events. “The first time I felt really welcomed in the Penn community was when I started to be more involved with the counseling center and became more involved with the school’s events, and met more of the student population,” she recalls.
Professors played a pivotal role in her transition. “The very first professors I ever met here at Penn were the Wrights and Brant Bollman, and since meeting them and being involved in their classes and activities, I’ve felt more at home. Especially with Brant’s theatre classes and the plays. Without the English classes and the theatre influence at this school, I would not have found my people,” Atlie explains.
Beyond academics, Atlie is actively involved in the theater department, Alpha Lambda Delta (ALD), and assists with Counseling Center events, notably Creative Coping. “Being involved in the three groups has made me grow out of the shell I was in when I started school and meet more people than I ever thought I would,” she notes.
As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, Atlie found a supportive environment at William Penn. “William Penn does not have a GSA like my last college or high school had, but I have not faced any adversity from other students or from professors,” she shares. On campus she found others that identify as LGBTQ+, enforcing her sense of community and belonging.
The Counseling Center and small class sizes have been instrumental in her academic journey. “My resources are the counselor, being able to talk to her just in passing has helped me with regulating myself emotionally. Also being in such small classes and being able to talk one on one with the professors has helped immensely,” Atlie says.
Her voice is valued on campus, as evidenced by her experience with ALD. “Just in the past few weeks ALD has been planning goodies bags for finals and I added in something that might be overlooked. My consideration was immediately listened to and it was added as something that would be added to the bags for other students to enjoy,” she recounts.
Atlie has grown both personally and academically. “Personally, I have grown into being more social since I’ve started to go out more with my friends and even started ‘study dates’ with my friends so that we can hold each other accountable to getting our homework done, which has helped me academically,” she reflects.
Her advice to incoming students is to build relationships. “I would tell the students to get to know their professors and befriend an upperclassman who can tell them about the expectations of the professors they are going to have. When I came in as a Sophomore, I befriended a Senior, and it was the best thing I did for knowing what I was coming into,” Atlie advises.
Balancing academics and extracurriculars requires discipline. “I only have an extracurricular a few months out of the school year, and when I do, I try to work on a majority of my work during my breaks throughout the day, and usually, I am at a stopping point by the time that rehearsal comes around. I have another rule that if I am working on homework past 9 pm, it’s probably not going to be worth it since I am not mentally awake enough by then to work out quality homework,” she explains.
Managing a chronic illness has presented challenges. “I have a chronic illness that has made it hard to get to and from some classes, and when I have to rely on memory for assignments. To overcome this, I have started classes by talking to the professors to make sure they understand that I am not just not doing my work or that there’s a possibility that I’ll be late for classes, especially during the winter since my pain flares up more then. I’ve had very understanding professors, luckily,” Atlie shares.
Her favorite classes have been in English and theatre. “I have loved every English course I have taken, especially the ones with Samantha Allen-Wright. I feel like I have gathered so much from her classes for the way I write and read. Other than my English classes, Brant’s theatre class has been amazing, and since I enjoy being around him and the way he teaches his classes, I am excited for the next class of his that I am taking,” she says.
Atlie feels prepared for her future. “I think with being thrown into the deep end at Penn, it has helped prepare me for being able to think quickly and being able to persevere. I also feel like being at Penn has helped me understand how to talk and interact with people outside of my normal circle,” she reflects.
William Penn University
Looking back, she wishes she had known the value of the connections she would make. “A very small part of me wishes I had started at William Penn, but I could not replace the memories that I made at my last school. I wish I had known that I was going to make friends that would be so important to me, and that it wasn’t going to be easy to change schools and environments, but it would eventually also become another place to call home,” Atlie shares.
Transferring to William Penn was a significant transition. “Transferring to William Penn was challenging, since I waited so long to make the decision, and I was still in denial of Wesleyan’s closing. But once I got started, I was immediately welcomed into a new friend group that made the transition easier. Educationally, I’ll admit I was ready to be done as soon as I started at Penn, just because I was so emotionally drained from the closing,” she recalls.
Atlie is on track to graduate in May of 2026.