Senior Spotlight: Brett Glisson’s Perfect Path to Writing
Written by Trinity Ray. Photography by Edith Manfred.
Brett Glisson‘s route through school was less traditional than most, but to her, “It feels so perfect being here now.” Glisson is a senior Writing major at SCAD. And with graduation only a week away, she is more excited than ever.
Glisson started at Savannah Technical College, but part of the way through she moved to Florida with her partner, Sonya. She graduated with honors from St. Petersburg College (SPC), completing her Associate of Arts in Theatre. Glisson thought she was going to move from SPC to the University of South Florida to continue studying theatre, but that didn’t happen. Because of COVID-19 Brett and Sonya’s plans to stay and buy a house in Florida turned into them returning to Savannah.
Glisson says it was a blessing in disguise. She started studying at SCAD by continuing where she left off in Florida, majoring in Film and Television. Eventually, she made the move to Writing and never looked back. “Everyone always told me I would be an amazing writer. It was staring me right in the face the whole time,” she says. Glisson still uses her knowledge of theatre and film to her advantage. Her first article published with Theme Park Magazine will give you all the insight into Classic Monster Films and Dark Universe.
“I was trying so hard to make these other life paths work but thank goodness I ended up back at SCAD and doing writing,” she says. Her mom, Kimberly, was a 1997 Historic Preservation (now Preservation Design) graduate from SCAD. Following in her footsteps felt right to Glisson, even down to her recent internship. As a writing fellow for Deep Center, she was able to channel her mom’s teaching skills while coaching middle school students through their writing.
Being able to live at home and experience life with her parents and partner, simultaneous to school, was everything Glisson dreamed of. She has no plans to move away anytime soon. After the highly anticipated graduation ceremony is over, Glisson will be staying busy with work at Gallery Espresso and writing her upcoming book.
The idea came to life during Professor Jonathan Rabb’s Story Research class in Winter 2025. With a large interest in science, Glisson wants to bring light to the people behind the Voyager program. Her creative nonfiction book will highlight Carl Sagan and the other scientists and engineers that made this almost half a century mission possible.
Glisson is setting her goal high as the 50th anniversary of the Voyager is coming in only two years — what a perfectly timed opportunity. But, even with the wonderful support of SCAD’s Writing department, Glisson knows that two years is a sprint when it comes to writing and publishing. So, if nothing else, she hopes the first draft can be completed and celebrated alongside Voyager’s anniversary.
Her educational journey is coming to an end for the time being, and Glisson feels more prepared than ever to enter the industry. “I’m dying over here,” she says, because graduation couldn’t come soon enough.
Trinity is a Writing major with a minor in Chinese Language and Cultural Studies. She spends her time outside of District doing the same thing she does while being a copy editor — reading, writing, and editing. While journalism is her thing at District, her specialty is writing romance, fantasy, and stories about children. Aside from being an English nerd, Trinity enjoys being a nerd for video games, anime, and a collector of all things cute.
