Jesse Hannawalt (BA)

Jesse Hannawalt was born and raised in San Francisco, California, where he spent most of his childhood either reading books or recruiting his friends, sister, and stuffed animals to reenact scenes from the books he was reading. Jesse attended San Francisco’s distinguished Lowell High School (unaffiliated with the school of the same name here in Vancouver). At Lowell High, Jesse was an accomplished student, athlete, and debater. 

Following high school, Jesse chose to attend the University of California, Santa Barbara in order to pursue the study of psychology. There, he found his love of literature resurgent, and focused his studies on the intertwined histories of psychology and the novel, as well as the influence of Freudian theory on literary criticism, ultimately graduating with a double major in psychology and comparative literature. 

After completing his undergraduate degree, Jesse spent two years working in the legal and culinary industries in San Francisco. In his off hours, Jesse led free writing workshops for under-resourced students in the San Francisco Unified School District on subjects from poetry to podcasting, and thought a great deal about where his love for literature and teaching would take him next. 

Eventually, Jesse made the difficult choice to leave his friends, family, and cat in order to move to Vancouver for an MA in English Literature from the University of British Columbia. At UBC, Jesse’s scholarly work attempts to unite the studies of postcolonial theory, ecology, poststructuralist philosophy, migration, and representations of food in fiction. He likes to spend his time here hiking and cooking. When he isn’t climbing a rock, he can usually be found immersed in a book, eating his way across Vancouver’s eclectic food scene, or attempting to do both at once. At Rasul Learning Group, Jesse enjoys sharing his passion for literature and helping students improve their confidence and abilities in creative and expository writing. He hopes to help students realize their full potential when it comes to classroom grades, SAT scores, and college admissions.