When asked to describe their college experience in one word, Hayley Carson `25 paused, then said, “Adventurous.” It’s a word that captures not only her academic journey, but also the intentional way they navigated spaces that once felt out of reach. “At Grinnell, I’ve tried to branch out of my comfort zone and do things that I couldn’t afford growing up,” she said.
Carson, a gender, women’s, and sexuality studies (GWSS) major with a concentration in digital studies, has spent her time on campus driven by both bold exploration and deep community connection. From studying abroad across multiple continents to interning with a drag storytelling organization, Carson has sought out experiences that have allowed her to build, “a more accessible and joyful world.”
In her second year, Carson created a self-designed internship with Drag Story Hour, an international organization that uses drag performance to inspire children to read and embrace diversity. “I reached out to all of the Drag Story Hour chapters, and I found one that aligned with my goals,” she said. The organization, primarily volunteer-run, took her on as a curriculum development intern. “That was a really important moment for me,” she said. “It kind of changed the trajectory of what I was going to do after college.”
One of Carson’s many academic interests lies in children’s literature, specifically its intersections with accessibility and working-class representation. “In grad school, I want to study how working-class representation is constructed — and how it’s coded a lot of times within nationalistic rhetoric,” she said. “I would like to go out and create books that working class children and families desire and enjoy.”
Much of Carson’s work, both inside and outside the classroom, has focused on access and inclusion. As a student leader with the Office of Accessibility and Disability Resources, they conducted building audits, made campus digital content more accessible, and worked to ensure that posters and social media posts included proper alt text and image descriptions. They also advocated for accessibility as a core design principle, not an afterthought. “Accessibility is for everyone,” she emphasized. “The best philosophy is to look at the person who has the most needs and build around that — then everyone ends up being accommodated.”
Her passion for disability justice emerged through personal experience. “I discovered I had a learning disorder, and I realized I was disabled in a couple different ways,” she said. “Through my own experience and learning from my friends who are also disabled, I was able to advocate more in the classroom.” That advocacy extended beyond campus — while working for the Iowa Black History Research Collective, Carson made accessibility training resources for her team, ensuring that their work was inclusive of Black disabled communities.
But Carson’s time at Grinnell hasn’t just been defined by advocacy or academics — it’s also been full of unexpected joy. One of their favorite discoveries was learning to play the harp. “I’d never taken a musical instrument lesson before,” she said. “I started last year, and I wish I had started earlier, but I’m really glad I kept it up. It’s been something just for me.”
They also found joy in creative hobbies like crocheting and bedazzling tote bags with friends in the Stonewall Resource Center. “I love to crochet.” she said. “I’ve made some bralettes, which has been really cool. It’s been a while since I’ve done anything other than scarves, but this semester, I’ve pretty much been making scarves as a way of fidgeting and focusing in class.”
Their time at Grinnell also gave them a chance to reconnect with and deepen their Jewish identity — something they didn’t have access to growing up. “My mom raised me with some Jewish values, and we celebrated Hanukkah and Passover, but I didn’t really get to explore what Judaism meant to me culturally, spiritually, or religiously,” she said. Through Grinnell’s Jewish student community and mentorship from Rabbi Sarah Brammer-Shlay, Carson began attending services, participating in holidays like Rosh Hashanah, Purim, and Tu BiShvat — and singing in Hebrew, a language they didn’t know before. “I can’t tell you what I’m saying, but I can read it — and I just find it joyful to sing with other people and set a good intention for the week.”
In Carson’s sixth semester, they found a profound extension of this exploration in GWS295: Love, Lust & Laughter: Jewish Life in Vienna, Krakow, and Budapest, a course-embedded travel program. “We visited synagogues in three different cities, including the Dohány Street Synagogue in Budapest, which was absolutely stunning,” Carson said. “It was cool to see one that was visible from the street and loud and proud about Jewish identity. I’d never seen anything like it before.”
Carson’s intellectual curiosity has led her far beyond Iowa. They entered the Grinnell College Global Entry Program and studied abroad their very first semester in Costa Rica. “I had never been outside of the U.S. before,” she said. “Getting to interact with culture, specifically a culture that is really near to my family, was really impactful.” Her stepdad, who is Costa Rican-American, had spoken of the region.
Back on campus, Carson has been involved in multiple organizations and initiatives, from working as a Global Envoy Mentor, Digital Access Leader, and conducting research on Black churches and community activism in Iowa. “A lot of times, Black history isn’t centered in classes,” she said. “I really wanted to engage critically with Black history.”
Her coursework in GWSS has helped her develop a framework for justice grounded in care. “It encouraged me to interact with the world lovingly,” she said. In a recent senior seminar, they explored disability utopias, drawing from authors who imagine new futures grounded in mutual aid, embodiment and imagination. “Learning from different feminist authors has encouraged a lot of optimism in me,” she said. “You can make a kinder world by practicing now.”
When asked what advice they would give her first-year self, Carson pauses, then smiles: “Anything you’re curious about — try it.” That spirit of curiosity has guided her through four years of exploration, failure and joy. “I’ve gotten more comfortable expressing myself,” she said. “And I think I’ve learned to help other people fulfill their goals and dreams, too.”
As they prepare to graduate, Carson plans to pursue a master’s degree in Children’s Literature, Media and Cultural Entrepreneurship. They are already imagining what comes next — and dreaming up a future that makes more space for care, access and community.
