I’m Alicen — a public policy undergraduate student at Elon University and Division I track and field athlete. I am from Springfield, Missouri, so despite my new love for the East Coast, I am a proud midwesterner at heart.

This is a space where I reflect on and share what I learn through personal experiences, service work, and studying the systems that hold our world together, or threaten to pull it apart. I write from both reflective and creative places—poetry, essays, and observations—as well as from a more analytical lens, engaging politics, policy, and opinion.

With minors in criminal justice and peace and conflict studies, I’m especially drawn to questions of justice, society, security, and what it means to live with both integrity and impact. At the heart of my writing is a love of challenge. My goal is to think deeply and live intentionally.