Graduate Student Spotlight | Jonathan Alexander ’23

I grew up in Frederick, Maryland, and graduated from Governor Thomas Johnson High School. I enlisted as an active-duty Infantry Marine and went on two combat deployments, Iraq (2006-07) and Afghanistan (2008), and was honorably discharged from service in 2009. 

I then worked for the Department of the Army as an Armed Guard for USAMRIID at Fort Detrick. After seven years working for the Army, I decided to use my GI Bill to attend Frederick Community College, where I earned a general studies degree in 2020. In 2021, I transferred to Hood College and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 2023.

In 2024, I applied and was accepted to the MFA program at Hood. I am also a member of Phi Kappa Phi and Sigma Tau Delta honor societies.

Besides becoming a writer, I also have the ambition to become a professor at a community college and share my love for learning, reading and writing with the next generations. 

I feel like I have been coming to Hood College forever. I am a legacy student. When I was a child, my mother would bring me to the campus sometimes, and her professors would let me sit at one of the desks and use an old typewriter. My mother graduated from Hood in 1993 and was a teacher for Montgomery County Public Schools for 30 years. My father also graduated from Hood in 2008, and he too became a teacher. My brother also graduated from Hood and began teaching. 

As an alumnus of Hood College, it was a place that I felt comfortable at, and the level of expertise of my professors made me confident that I would learn the skills needed to be successful in my future career.

The smaller campus and class sizes make the most effective learning environment, and it’s what I enjoy most about attending Hood College compared to other colleges and universities in the area. I am also proud of the opportunities that Hood College has provided for my family and the community.

Don’t wait. The story that I had published was a story that I wrote a few years ago. I sat on it. I didn’t try to have it published. It was a story that I had shared with my father and mother, and they liked it. It was good, but at the time, I felt that it would never get published, and I filed it away. 

Well, this year I had to send some of my stories out and at least try. It worked. The story was accepted; in fact, it was the first response I had received for any of my submissions (others are still pending). The reason I say don’t wait is because, unfortunately, I lost my father two years ago this August, and although he did get to read the story, he never got to see that the story would be published. 

So, my advice is don’t wait and sit on your stories.

I love my girlfriend Kristen, my family, my cat Cinderella, the New York Yankees, rollercoasters and trains. 

Inspired by Jonathan’s accomplishments in the MFA program? Ready to #GOFURTHER in your career? Learn more about Hood College’s graduate programs, such as creative writing, by clicking here.