Reflections from J. Courtney Sullivan, BUA ’99
J. Courtney Sullivan (BUA ‘99, Smith ’03) is the published author of three books and editorial writer for the New York Times who began laying the foundation for her writing career while at BU Academy. Her novel debut Commencement, a story that takes place at Smith College, chronicles the enduring relationship of four friends who meet on campus.
Reflecting on the friendships and experiences at the Academy that helped her develop as a writer, Courtney says, “My favorite subject, always, was English. English classes at BUA were very traditional, but my freshman year English teacher, Maxine Rodburg—a gifted fiction writer who’s now at Harvard—encouraged me to write fiction. She also taught me a bit about feminism and was really the first guiding voice for me on that.”
Early on at BUA, Courtney became friends with Lauren Semino (BUA ’98, Cornell ’02, Fordham Law ’04) “All through high school Lauren and I we were very good friends. I wrote short stories all the time and she was the only person who would read them and give me feedback. I think that the female friendship that comes out in Commencement is a reflection of my Smith friendships, but also of that first BUA friendship.”
Though Courtney is a gifted writer, other subjects were not as easy for her to master. “When I was at BUA I read a lot of poetry and I read a lot of fiction, but mostly of my own choosing. I just didn’t try hard enough when it came to math, or science, or Latin. I regret that because I think there’s just an incredible foundation in the Classics that you get at BUA and I could have gotten a lot more out of it. It wasn’t until my junior year that I really started to be serious about academics and then I began to get a lot more out of what was being given to me.”
Working hard in her final years at BUA paid off when Courtney went to college. “When I went to Smith, I was able to accelerate by a year right away because of all the BU credits I accumulated, but I realized that college was pretty amazing and that I didn’t really want to accelerate the process.”
In what would have been her junior year at Smith, Courtney decided to take a year off and move to London. She spent six months working for a literary agency and six months working as a nanny. She continued to write the entire time she was abroad. “I think that was a really unique experience that BUA gave me. Otherwise I might have studied abroad, which would have been great, but living abroad and working abroad was a totally different experience. It was definitely the fact that I could graduate in three years that made me even think of that.”
Living abroad on the time her BUA studies afforded her wasn’t the only long-term benefit Courtney garnered from the Academy. She says, “BUA really teaches you to think, to debate, and to work with people who are incredibly smart but not always exactly like you. Those tools have all served me very well in every workplace I’ve been in.”
To current Academy students, Courtney advises,“If you do buckle down and work hard, which probably isn’t a problem for most BUA students, the rewards will follow you into your adult life. You will use the information you learn there and you’ll be surprised at the places where you’ll use it and when you’ll use it. Personally, BUA gave me such a rooting in the history of the world and the history of literature that all the reading that I did afterward and since has been enriched with everything I learned there.”
Courtney also advises students to “have something besides the academics that you love. Something from which you won’t get any credit or put be able to put it on your resume, that you love it and that bring you joy. Do that thing. For me that was always creative writing and writing short stories. That has turned into my career and it’s still the thing I love to do the most.”
Want to know more about Courtney or her books? Visit her at http://jcourtneysullivan.com/ or send her an email at jcourtneysullivan@gmail.com
