Meet the TA: Hayley DiReda

Name: Hayley DiReda
Major: English Teaching
Minors: Undetermined - Philosophy and/or Italian
Year in School: Senior with 2 years left
Where did you grow up? Kaysville, Utah
Mission: N/A
Hobbies: Reading, writing, sports (I love them all but I am partial to Soccer and Ultimate Frisbee), dancing, music and cooking.
Favorite Internet Meme: I don't have a favorite! I just love to laugh!
Favorite Book (Non-Scriptural): Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Favorite Musical Artist: The Script.
Musical Instruments: Viola - Yes, it is a real instrument and no, it is not another name for a violin. 
Languages: English and Italian. I've studied Spanish but I am extremely rusty. I can understand a decent amount, but replying is tricky. My roommate's friend is from Israel and she started to teach me Hebrew. I still don't know anything about the language, except that it sounds beautiful. 
Other Things You Might Want to Know About Me: I am currently working on a novel and I am hoping to be published before the end of next year! Fingers crossed. I am also hoping to snag an internship, in either Peru or China, teaching English. I am dreading the impending winter weather because I hate the cold. I also don't know how to ski or snowboard, so that may have some impact on my relationship with snow, which is strange considering I grew up in Utah. Feel free to laugh. I think its comical as well. 

Meet the TA: Kyra Nelson

Name: Kyra Nelson
Major: Linguistics
Minors: Editing and English
Year in School: First Year MA
Where did you grow up? Billings, Montana
Mission: Impossible
Hobbies: Reading, writing, cake decorating, Tetris, blogging
Favorite Internet Meme: That escalated quickly
Favorite Book (Non-Scriptural): Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
Favorite Musical Artist: Taylor Swift. That's right. Don't hate.
Musical Instruments: Violin
Languages: English. Some Japanese. I took Spanish but was told I had the worst accent that instructor had ever heard. Once I tried learning Welsh for ten minutes.
Other Things You Might Want to Know About Me: I intern for a literary agency, which is a fancy way of saying that I crush the hopes and dreams of aspiring authors. I also love superheroes (not just because I think the actors in Avengers are foxy, even though they are).