Natalie Vermeulen
Student Writer
Name: Megan Hess
Year: Senior
Major: Public Relations
Megan Hess is a bubbly, friendly lover of musicals, writing and movies. One day you might find her as a published author, but for now, see what inspires her while she’s here at Messiah:
Can you tell me about a time you were inspired?
I’m inspired by a good book or a good work of art, you know, like most people. Or sometimes I’ll listen to a song and I’ll be like ‘wow that was so inspiring’—the type of songs that pump you up. Do you know the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying? There’s this one song in the musical called “I Believe in You,” and I always listen to that song if I’m doing something and need to get inspired.
What’s your favorite musical?
Oh gosh. Okay, so Rent is my favorite and Hamilton is my second favorite, and then I like Godspell. I’m a big musical fan. I actually just applied for a contributor position at the New York Times—they’re doing this student contributor section. One of the [application] questions was “what’s one thing you’re obsessed with and everyone knows?” and I did mine on musicals.
Do you have a favorite song from Hamilton?
I mean all of Hamilton is pretty good. I like “Wait for It.” I really identify with Aaron Burr. You know how his thing is like, “talk less, smile more?” You sort of have to hold back what you feel so you have other people’s approval. I don’t know, that really speaks to me. He [Burr] sort of resents Hamilton because Hamilton is very free and he doesn’t really think about the consequences of his actions. He just kind of does things. Burr is very methodical; he always thinks, “if I do this thing, how is it going to reflect on me?” I could talk about Hamilton for hours.
What do you like to write?
Novel writing and cooking—novel writing is like my side hobby. I have a couple finished books that I’m sitting on and then I’m working on some other stuff. I have this thing where I have to work on like ten things at a time because I don’t want to ever lose any ideas. I’m working on the third book in a trilogy. I wouldn’t say anything that I finished is super great, but the fact that I finished it is a good feeling. It’s cool to say I wrote a book.
You said you like novel writing and cooking—what do you like to cook?
I really like Italian food, because I went to Italy on the cross-cultural two years ago. That was one of the best things I’ve done at Messiah.
Do you have a favorite word, and why?
My roommate has this thing that she says, “beautiful majestic and breathtaking,” like you have to say them all together. So now we do that all the time.