Meet Interns Grace and Charlotte!

Grace Buck

Hi, Oak Knollers! My name is Grace Buck and I am a current sophomore at the University of Delaware. I am currently pursuing an English major with a minor in Advertising. I am from Chester Springs, Pennsylvania where I also work as a waitress when I am not away at school. I adore writing, reading, yoga, and traveling, and I am absolutely thrilled to be Oak Knoll’s newest team member this fall!

Originally, I had applied to UD as a biology major. This was a surprising decision, to both myself and everyone who knew me. Though I loved the natural world and loved learning about it, my endless passion for reading and writing made it an uncharacteristic choice. Quickly, however, I realized that while biology may be a subject I enjoy learning about, it was not the field where I would find the most happiness and fulfillment in my future career. I switched to English, made an entirely new schedule of classes, and began my freshman year. Having this experience working at Oak Knoll is only making me more certain that I am on the path that is best for me.

I cannot remember a time where books were not an influential part of life; my mom would read me and my siblings stories on end before bed, and when I was old enough I began reading anything and everything I could get my hands on. Growing up in a household filled with people and pets, I would hide away any chance I could and throw myself into a book. Though life has certainly gotten busier, I still pursue an avid love of reading, with my GoodReads account potentially being more active than my Instagram.

Because the English major can lead to a fairly broad field, I found myself (and still find myself) faced with the decision of where it will lead me and one milestone of this decision was finding Oak Knoll books. I was always incredibly interested in the book publishing field and the creation of books, but had very little knowledge of what it entailed, and very little idea how to learn. In the spring of last year, I decided to additionally purse an Advertising minor, as I thought obtaining a deeper knowledge of the business and marketing world would help me understand what it takes to make and sell a product, namely, books.

When I received an email from the English department asking for applications for an intern position at a book publishing company that specializes in books about books, I thought it could not be more perfect. I am so incredibly excited to learn all that I can from this experience and am so grateful that the staff has been so wonderfully welcoming! I can’t wait to get started!

Charlotte Brown

Hello all! My name is Charlotte Brown, and I am a current junior at the University of Delaware. I am currently majoring in English. During my time at UD, I have studied a broad range of literature and other topics, such as British and American literature, as well as literature in relation to gender, advertising, film and film history, and several creative writing classes. In addition to my position as intern at Oak Knoll, I work part-time in the UD library, helping to digitally preserve historical documents. When I am not studying or scanning old books, I enjoy reading, writing, hanging out with friends, and a myriad of other activities.

Despite not knowing what exactly I want to do as a full-time career, thanks to the English major’s broad range of options, I always knew I wanted to work with books in some capacity. Books have always been a major part of my life: I started reading children’s books at a very young age, but quickly grew bored and moved on to higher-level reading material. It used to be that I would read so much that my mother would have to ban me from doing so until I got some actual work done. Now, unfortunately, I don’t read as often as I used to. I hope that while at Oak Knoll, I will learn the inner workings of how a store is run and how books are created and published, but I also hope that being surrounded by so many physical books will re-inspire me to continue reading as I once did.

When I received an email from the English Department that asked for applications for an internship position at a bookstore/publisher, I knew immediately that I wanted this position. I can’t wait to learn as much as I can from this experience, and I am so happy that everyone has been so kind and welcoming! I can’t wait to get started!