Savanna Mertz

Hello!

I have spent four years as a writing consultant for Dallas Baptist University. In addition to teaching writing to student, I help create, edit, and promote organizational services through a number of communication channels including flyers, brochures, social media, blogs, quick reference flyers, presentations, and reports. Interning for author and speaker Tracey Mitchell has exposed me to the publication industry, and allowed me to be part of the process of developing content and design for landing pages, promotional video, and marketing materials for customers, influencers, and contributors.

I work with All Nations Church Boston as a communications volunteer, overseeing the entirety of their Instagram account. In the past, I helped edit and expand the church’s online content, and I will soon take on responsibility for updating and maintaining the entire website. While completing my undergraduate degree, I served for an academic year as a student writer for College Xpress. Working with a public service a representative of a private, religious university, I gained valuable experience in mastering organizational voice and branding. I have also written numerous blogs for Worth More Ministries and Owl Things Considered, an extension of the DBU Writing Center.

Owl Things Considered •

The Collegiate Guide to Surviving Wedding Season

As a 10-time wedding guest in the first three years of my college career, I understand how much of a struggle it can be to survive other people’s weddings. And now, as a future bride myself, I can also see the other side of the coin. Some of the ridiculousness of wedding culture is actually beneficial, like a meaningful venue or catering from the restaurant the couple went to on their first date. Other parts, like matching bridesmaid robes and $175 tux rentals, are not.
Owl Things Considered •

Fingerprints of Independence

Unless you’ve been to Washington D.C. to see the Declaration of Independence with your own eyes, you might not know it has somebody’s fingerprint ink smudge on it. I know, insensitive right? How dare you—whoever you are—put your grubby fingers all over the most precious gift of liberty ever bestowed upon the civilized world. Nothing illustrates the beauty of America’s Independence Day better than this. The fingerprints of unknown individuals helping to shape a nation are what America is supposed to be about.

Become a Financially Savvy Student with TACOS

Just the thought of trying to figure out how to save, allocate, and budget meager finances sounds like a nightmare. It may not be a fun topic to spend your time on, especially when it feels like you have so little to work with, but it’s not something you should avoid either. To help ease the pain, I’ve created a little acronym to help you remember five basic steps to becoming financially savvy, and I did it using something we all love: tacos.
Owl Things Considered •

How to Survive College According to Hamilton

Fans of the musical Hamilton will assure anyone that the lessons one can glean from the show are infinite in number. There is a reason people are obsessed with a hip-hop musical about the first U.S. Treasury Secretary; it resonates with the average American. With its themes of perseverance, writing, and self-discovery, Hamilton is also incredibly relatable for students struggling to survive (and thrive) in the college season of life. Here are a few wisdom-filled lines from the musical that may help new college students—Hamilton fans or not—stay alive and get the job done.

The Writing Center 101

If you currently attend college and have yet to write a paper, be advised that one is coming your way. You’re delusional if you think your professors don’t plan on giving you any writing assignments. I promise you, one of them will. Nobody studying at the collegiate level is exempt from the art of writing; English, music publishing, criminal justice, chemistry, and accounting majors all need to be effective writers. Professors know this and plan written assignments accordingly. Somebody else on your campus knows this too: the university writing center. I’ve been working in my university’s writing center for two semesters now, and it blows my mind how many students—and not just freshmen—don’t even realize we exist.

5 Questions to Answer Before Your First Year at a Christian College

When it comes to college preparation, answering difficult questions is expected. “What extracurricular activities have you participated in? Please list activities beginning in kindergarten.” “What is your combined family income, and how much can your parents contribute to your education? Do not round your calculations; enter data to the exact cent.” Okay, you probably won’t be asked to dig that deep. But the thing that I didn’t expect, after all the applications were submitted and I began my college career, was to be stumped by the simple questions that seemed to pop up on a regular basis.

Unorthodox Academics: What It's Like Studying a Brand-New Major

One hundred years ago, psychology was a widely unrecognized, often inhumane practice that only the likes of Wilhelm Wundt and Sigmund Freud dared to explore. Today it is a commonly sought-after major at most universities. Go back a few more centuries and college education was primarily focused on a few general areas: medicine, law, theology, or history. Universities are the foreground of innovation and cultural transformation, so it is inevitable for majors to not only grow and develop, but also to be born and mature. Just as in the case of the iPhone, there will be gambles to wager and bugs to fix that come with declaring a major that is either unheard of or brand-new to a campus. But there will also be benefits and advantages to choosing such a major that can put a willing, daring student ahead of their peers.

5 Things You Need to Relearn How to Do in College

At some point during your college career, you will realize you are not as knowledgeable about the world as you think you are. If you’re lucky, this “aha” moment won’t hit you in the middle of a midterm you didn’t study for or in a questionable Waffle House at an unpleasant hour of the morning. For me, it came in Walmart. As I stood in the meat aisle, it occurred to me that although I had been cooking and grocery shopping for years, I had never bought my own hamburger meat before, and I had no idea what I was doing. Since then, I’ve found other areas where I had once considered myself skilled but now realize I still have learning to do. The entire college atmosphere is unlike any other arena of life, so it is important to realize that even the simplest things will be different too.
Owl Things Considered •

Topic vs. Thesis: A Tale of Two Cokes

In Texanese, “coke” is just a generalized category that umbrellas dozens of beverages. Just as “Mexican food” and “rom-com” and “soda” are unspecified generic topics, so is the word “coke” in Texas. Understanding the difference between a topic and a thesis can be just as easy if you realize the coke is like your topic, and your thesis is all the other individual drinks it represents. The topic of a paper is usually pretty darned generic, and it is often what is given to you by your professor. It’s the thing on the syllabus that makes you think, “That’s way too broad of an assignment. I still don’t know what to write about!”
Owl Things Considered •

The Death of Writing

I’m not trying to convince you that writing is a cleverly disguised form of witchcraft. If you clicked on a blog titled “The Death of Writing” you already have negative feelings about the subject. Writing, to most students, has long been dead: a misunderstood art at its best and a useless waste of time at its worst. I’m not here to annihilate your perception of writing, but to resurrect it. You probably haven’t gathered this yet, but I love to write. It’s one of the few talents I claim, and I’ve actively pursued the craft since childhood. But, though college has improved my technical writing abilities, it’s been more of a damper than a fan to the flames of my writing passion.
Owl Things Considered •

The Burial of Jesus

By the time Joseph made his way from Pilate’s palace to Golgotha, the crowds had dispersed. Most of the throngs of violent protesters and adoring followers left when the sky went dark earlier in the afternoon; those who had endured that bizarre experience scattered when the earthquake came. Now there just seemed to be Romans milling around the crosses. Even the group of men and women who had followed Jesus so closely for the past two years were nowhere to be seen. Rumor had it that it was one of those 12 men who had betrayed their leader to the mob. Not that Joseph had any judgment to pass. After all, nobody knew he, too, was a disciple. At least, not yet; after what he was about to do, there would be no doubting his loyalties.
Owl Things Considered •

The Man on the Train

This was the final day of our study-abroad class in Germany; first thing tomorrow morning we would be on a non-stop flight back to Dallas. Everybody—professors included—seemed to be done. Done with learning and done with new cultural experiences. I couldn’t blame them. It had been a long, exhausting trip. The introverted part of me, the rarely-disputed queen of my personality, longed to put in earbuds and mentally disappear from the whole world. Too bad, though, because I had a hunch that I might be sitting next to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
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