Luke Bryson

Luke Bryson `25 said his time at Grinnell was defined by its people — friends and mentors alike. As an English major with a concentration in film and media studies (FMS), he hopes to bring this sense of community into his future plans back in Los Angeles, his hometown. 

Bryson was originally drawn to the open curriculum of Grinnell College. After briefly considering designing his own major, he decided that English would be the department for him. “As I looked at what classes I was wanting to incorporate into that, it was pretty much just English, and then with the open curriculum, any of the other stuff that I wanted to add into the build your own major I could just take,” said Bryson.

Bryson said that the nature of the assignments, as well as mentorship from those teaching English at Grinnell — such as John Garrison, former professor of English, — have shaped his worldview. 

“It’s meaning-making,” Bryson said. “So many of my assignments in the English major have been the perfect level of vague … to find something in this book or short story means something to you, and find a way to write an academic paper about it.” 

Bryson also mentioned Dean Bakopoulos, former professor of English, as being instrumental in leading him to creative writing endeavors. “He was incredible and pushed us to think of ourselves as writers, not just writers in training. So I felt pretty inspired by him to try to do something with my writing, rather than just writing for fun.” 

Bryson received an honorable mention for a short story in the 2024 Associated Colleges of the Midwest Nick Adams Short Story Contest, inspired by a moment on campus. “I was watching the train go by and thinking about all of my friends on campus, and how we weren’t too far away from all spreading out across the country. So I kind of wanted to center a story around someone on a train just going kind of nowhere in particular,” he said. 

The FMS concentration, which was founded in Bryson’s first year, provided a connection between his interest in film and the Grinnell community. “I actually haven’t seen Grinnellians show up for each other more than in filmmaking,” Bryson said, mentioning how he saw Grinnellians help out without the promise of credits or academic rewards. “I’ve been out on set with someone who’s doing a MAP at like four in the morning to help out.” 

Film influenced some of Bryson’s favorite memories of Grinnell; in particular, he has fond ones of Grinnell’s annual film festival Titular Head. “It’s so fun to watch people walk around with a camera out or a phone out, and you like you don’t know if it’s just a personal Tiktok or if you’re about to get pranked or forced to do something weird,” he said, adding that this tradition breaks up the typical Grinnellian tendencies to be perfectionist. “Tithead especially kind of flattens like social strata and engagement and all of that, because there’s no focus on quality or perfection.” 

Ultimately, it was Bryson’s friends that played the biggest role in his college experience. Four of these emerged from day one of New Student Orientation and lasted throughout his four years. Bryson said that the weird collection of people at Grinnell allowed him to find many different levels of friendship, people who “study together and interrupt each other and mess with each other and then go party immediately after.”

The small town environment of Grinnell served Bryson well, and he said that getting out of the Southern California bubble to experience the Midwest was the right choice, affirmed by the relationships Bryson developed in the wider community. Talking about his friendship with Sam Cox, the owner of Saints Rest Coffee House, Bryson said, “We talk every time I go into Saints Rest and have for four years now, and that’s something that you can find in bigger cities, but you won’t see that person running for office or waiting tables at the other restaurant that you love. It’s such a circular town.” 

After graduation, Bryson intends to move to Los Angeles and further pursue filmmaking. “I’m jumping in the deep end and seeing what I can, what I can grab onto in terms of film,” Bryson said. One goal he has is to found an unofficial Grinnell production company making short films with other Grinnellians moving out to L.A., providing connections for future FMS students. 

“It could be like a sort of landing pad for FMS students leaving Grinnell. If we have this group that is making films and eventually get into the industry, we can create this place that you go into to learn a little bit about how filmmaking works out in L.A.,” Bryson said. 

When he looks back at his time at Grinnell, Bryson said above all he’ll remember “my closest friends, the tertiary friends, and the professors. I have a lot of good memories of going into office hours to discuss a paper, and talking for hours about something completely unrelated. When I remember big events like Tithead, I’m going to remember that through the people.”