Daria Slikker
The Green Club
Team Member and Contributor
Daria Slikker was born in London but grew up in both Switzerland and Luxembourg. She aims to use her love of literature to become a publisher and writer in the future.
Daria had always been a passionate reader but it was only until 9th grade that her passion for writing was realised. Her English teacher had wanted all the students to participate in a poetry writing competition about courage, and so she applied. Daria ended up winning 2nd place for her poem inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s ‘The Old Man and the Sea’. She replicated the nine stanza structure of Maya Angelou’s ‘Still I Live’ through an ecocritical lens in its consideration of how the sea feels in its battle against man. From there she started entering into the Harvard Global Essay Competition, Creative Writing teaser classes, and the National Poetry Competition. She found her own voice in poetry and consequently, started forming her own identity as a person and writer.
During school hours, she became part of the Green Club which hopes to make the school more environmentally friendly and raise awareness of climate change issues. She was in charge of the design of the website and helped create top tips to be more sustainable in our lives. Daria was also a proud member of Book Club, where they had discussions on classics like Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’. She regularly maps for Médecins sans frontièrs, helping map areas in need of medical assistance, affected by disease, or natural disasters. Daria created a trivia club for middle schoolers with her friend, which took place once a week during their lunch time. She wanted for the middle schoolers to learn something new whilst also having fun and getting rewarded for their efforts.
Attending a top university in the UK for English Literature would be a dream come true for her to realise her complete academic potential. She hopes to be able to compete in poetry slams and other creative outlets for writing. For her masters, she would like to attend Columbia University. Hopefully after her Masters, she will work for Penguin Books in either New York City or London. Once she has become more familiar within the field, she hopes to start writing her own novels and poetry collections. From there, she would like to work in film, writing screenplays and directing.