About Me

My name is Kenzie Marie Lotz and I am currently a senior at the University of Mary Washington. In May 2026, I will earn my BA in English: Creative Writing with minors in Digital Studies and Data Science.

This subdomain, “kwallac2dgst101”, is an updated version of a digital portfolio I created for Digital Studies 101, a course I attended in the Fall 2024 semester. I decided to make slight updates to this portfolio for three main reasons:

1. Since finishing the course, I have made various strides in my academic, career, and personal achievements. I would like these major accomplishments to be reflected in my digital portfolio.
2. I want to showcase the improvements I have made as a website designer, not only due to the passage of time, but also because of my new experiences in digital content creation.
3. Shortly after completing my portfolio for the semester, I was legally adopted by my stepdad, and I changed my legal name from Kenzie Wallace to Kenzie Lotz. Unfortunately, I cannot change the title of this domain, but I would like this name to change to be reflected in my digital portfolio by updating elements of the website.

I have served in a diverse range of work, leadership, and academic positions at the University of Mary Washington. Since my enrollment in 2023, I have been a work-study student at the Veterans Resource Center, a place for veterans and dependents to connect, fundraise, and learn about their student benefits. In Fall 2025, I was promoted to Student Veteran Coordinator and President of the Association of Student Veterans. I have also served as an Orientation Leader for the 2024-2025 school year, helping incoming students adjust to the university, organizing large events for student connection, and being a resource for my orientees throughout the school year. In the summer of 2025, I was a student research intern for the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Summer Institute, working with Digital Studies Department Chair Professor Zach Whalen on “Experiments in Generative A.I, Literature, and Machine Learning for Creative Writing.”

I have collaborated with various members of the faculty and staff at Mary Washington for personal and professional projects. In February 2025, I began collaborating with Professor Shawn Humphrey as lead editor of Sidekick Manifesto II, releasing in April 2026. During the Fall 2025 semester, I served as a design editor for the Rappahannock Review, an online literary journal that publishes art, poetry, fiction, and non-fiction works. Currently, I am working on two academic projects as a student researcher. In “Fine-Tuning Large Language Models to Reduce Critical Sector Cybersecurity Risk”, I demonstrate solutions to telecommunications, energy, and financial problems by applying and improving a RAG fine-tuning pipeline to large language models that satisfy the use case provided. In “A Deep Dive into the Political Rhetoric of Stan Culture”, I am investigating how the nature of online platforms subtly allows them to shape viewers’ ideologies and how to identify regressive narratives in seemingly apolitical topics, such as the discussion of famous pop stars within “Stan Twitter”.

Outside of academic work, I have served in various leadership positions in student organizations on campus. I am currently President of the Association of Student Veterans, Vice President of the Cyber Security Club, a board member of the Rotaract Club, and an editor for the Aubade, Mary Washington’s official Literary & Art Journal. I was previously a showrunner of “Eagle Con”, a student-led convention for artists, cosplayers, and fans of all things “geeky”. Other clubs I am an active member of are Fine Print (poetry club), Creative Writing Club, Girl Gains (weightlifting club), Fourth Wall Studios (film club), and Latinos Student Association. If you are currently reading this and are wondering where I have time for sleep, I do not.

My favorite hobbies include writing (largely creative nonfiction), art (physical and digital sketches), playing video games, being physically active, shopping with my mom and telling her she doesn’t need to buy everything, and watching movies with my sister. Other notable facts about me are that I’m fluent in Spanish, can code in Java, C++, HTML, and Python, and can edit on Canva, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere Pro, and InDesign!

Contact Information:

-LinkedIn

-Handshake