HeartLines

Wren Campise

Wren Campise is a senior English major with a Writing minor. At SHU, they are in the Thomas More Honors Program and served as Secretary of the GSA in their junior year. Living just an hour outside of New York City, they grew up with a love for Broadway musicals, participating in local theater as an actor and later as a stage manager. Their musicality and affinity toward writing extends to song writing, often writing lyrics in their free time. As part of their activities as an online entertainer, Wren has released three songs and livestreams video games on Twitch. Always pursuing more creative outlets, they are learning graphic design and video editing. Having been writing since fifth grade and taking various courses at SHU, Wren has developed a love for the genres of poetry and flash fiction. They are thrilled to work with so many amazing writers as part of the HeartLines team this semester! 

Michael Denysenko

Michael Denysenko is an aspiring English major/writing minor in his senior year. A commuter from the tiny town of West Haven, Mike looks to make an impact; hoping to become a bestselling novelist in the future. After school hours, Mike is a member of the Esports Club, contributing to the Super Smash Brothers team. He enjoys anything that requires creativity, from CAD design to 3D Printing, digital art and writing, anything he can create something with becomes a new hobby for him. A returning editor to Heartlines, Mike hopes to inspire others to write their own story, both on and off the page.

Kathryn Haig

Kathryn Haig is a junior English major at Sacred Heart University. She is pursuing minors in Honors, Creative Writing, and Irish Studies; is a member of the International English Honors Society, known as Sigma Tau Delta; and was awarded the Best Writing 2024 Award at the Sacred Heart Academic Festival for her essay titled “Making History a Living Memory: The Power of Play and Role Immersion in Enhancing Education,” which is currently under review for publication in the Sacred Heart Undergraduate Journal. Having studied abroad for six weeks in Rome, Italy during the summer of 2024 and for five months in Dingle, Ireland during the spring of 2025, she is a passionate traveler and serves as a Global Ambassador for Sacred Heart’s Office of Global Education. Kathryn is an avid reader and writer, enjoys running, loves going to Broadway shows, and adores her dogs. Her favorite book is Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, and her preferred genres to write are poetry and fiction. She is thrilled to be part of HeartLines this year!

Kaitlyn Costa

Kaitlyn Costa is a junior at Sacred Heart University, majoring in Interdisciplinary Studies with a minor in Psychology. She is a member of Club Volleyball, Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, and the education club. She volunteers for World tutors, helping students all over the world with math, English, and writing assignments. In her free time she loves to read and journal about life, what’s going on at school, how she feels, and so much more! She is from Westchester, NY and works at her old elementary school as a substitute teacher. She hopes to become an elementary teacher one day and support all of those who need her assistance!

Kat Dempsey

Kat Dempsey is a senior at Sacred Heart University, majoring in Psychology with minors in Honors, Writing, and Sociology. She is a member of the Thomas More Honors Program, serves as Co-President of the Psychology Club, is a member of the psychology honor society Psi Chi, and volunteers as a psychology research assistant. Her research interests center on understanding inclusive environments and how culture shapes individual life experiences, and she hopes to pursue a career in psychology research while keeping writing as a central part of her life. Kat began writing at a young age, inspired by her father, an introspective poet, and she writes across genres, though she is particularly drawn to creative nonfiction. She enjoys crafting stories that people can relate to, often using unexpected humor and irony to engage readers. She draws inspiration from everyday experiences and enjoys spending time with her family and friends.  Kat is thrilled to contribute to this edition of HeartLines, combining her passions for psychology, storytelling, and creative expression.

Madeleine Medeiros

Madeleine Medeiros is a sophomore Media Arts major concentrating in Journalism with minors in both Writing and Dance. She is a passionate member of the Sacred Heart University Dance Ensemble, Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, and most recently, the assistant news editor for the SHU Spectrum Newspaper. Her experience in media arts and choreography informs her approach to communication through language and non-verbal means. From Natick, Massachusetts, she loves traveling and spending time in nature. She also enjoys visiting her hometown dance studio, where she was an assistant teacher and competitive dancer, to spend time with her former teammates. She hopes to pursue a career as a journalist and is excited to edit for her first edition of HeartLines this semester! 

Evelyn Villanueva

Evelyn Villanueva is a junior at Sacred Heart University majoring in English. Originally from Norwalk, Connecticut, she is passionate about creative nonfiction and especially enjoys reading and writing in Spanish. She is excited to be working on this edition of HeartLines and looks forward to continuing to explore new ways to share stories and connect through language.

Eric Arakelian

Eric Arakelian is an energetic and passionate college student majoring in Information Technology. Eric is a brother of the Iota Alpha chapter of Pi Kappa Phi, a fraternity here at Sacred Heart. He is extremely happy to have helped create the website HeartLines and is excited to see what the future holds for this website. 

Isaiah Disla

Isaiah is a senior Information Technology Major with a minor in Cybersecurity. Additionally, he is a student employee for the Networking Department at Sacred Heart University; he’s a part of multiple organizations at SHU such as TAP, Alpha Phi Omega, and Delta Tau Delta. Isaiah enjoyed creating HeartLines as his senior project!

Laura Regan

Laura is a Senior Information Technology Major at Sacred Heart University, minoring in Business, Management, and Honors. Laura is passionate about being a brother of the Chi Mu Chapter of Alpha Kappa Psi, a Professional Co-ed Business Fraternity. Laura is so excited to have helped create the HeartLines online platform, and she hopes it becomes a space where people can share their creativity!

Hard Shah

Meet Hard Shah, an undergraduate majoring in Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics, embodies a fusion of cultural diversity and academic excellence. He has an unwavering passion for guitar. Enthusiastic about the complexities of coding languages, he delves into the logical puzzles of programming while also nurturing his artistic side through music. He brings a unique blend of passion from his upbringing in India to his current life in the States. The coexistence of innovation and passion in his life is what brings out the best in him.

Roshan Patwari

Roshan Patwari is a Recent Grad Student at Sacred Heart University who loves bringing ideas to life online. He build clean, responsive websites with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and tools like Angular and Tailwind. With a solid background in both design and code, He make sure things not only look good but work great too. Whether it’s front-end magic or back-end logic, He gets excited about every new project. If you’ve got a vision, He is ready to make it happen.

Professor Marie Hulme

Prof. Hulme teaches Literature and Creative Writing. She received her B.A. In English from Smith College, an M.A. in British and American Literature from New York University, an M.A. in Teaching from Sacred Heart University, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Fairfield University. Prof. Hulme’s fiction and non-fiction writing have won national recognition, most recently by the 2022 Pen Women’s Keats’ Literary Awards, with a first prize in the Religious Essay category and an honorable mention in the Flash Fiction category. She has previously been awarded third prize in the national story category by the Hackney Literary Awards for her short story published in “The Birmingham Arts Journal.” Prior to her life as an academic, she worked as a print journalist in Fairfield county and as a broadcast journalist for ABC News in London.

Professor Nathan Lewis

Nathan Lewis is a California born artist and curator. He received his MFA from Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He also studied at the Florence Academy of Art in Italy and in St. Petersburg, Russia, and received a BFA from Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts in Connecticut. His work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally in museums, galleries, and universities. His work is in private collections in NY, CT, MA, PA, CA, OR, FL, Germany, Russia and India. He has 5 works in the permanent collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. His paintings have been on the cover of numerous books and journals, and his work was included in films shown at the Cannes and Sundance Film festivals. His work has been published and reviewed by the New York Times, the New York Press, International Artist, Fine Art Connoisseur, Art in New England, The Huffington Post, and the Boston Globe, among others. He has received multiple grants, and two URCG grants to research art in Belgium, France, and Japan. He has been the recipient of multiple fellowships and residencies and has given artists talks at institutions throughout the US and Italy.

Dr. Robert McCloud

Bob McCloud is a Distinguished International Professor and Associate Professor of Computer Science at Sacred Heart University, currently serving as the Associate Dean of the Computer Science & Technology Department. He earned an honors degree in Philosophy at Williams College, then went to University of Pennsylvania to pursue graduate studies. At Penn, he was Schubert Fellow in Playwrighting. Along the way, he discovered computer programming and wrote his first program: a tool to analyze word use in the plays of Edward Albee. After developing that program, he became confused: computer science or playwrighting? That led to an extended absence from academia. During that time, he tried both writing and computer careers, ultimately spending most of the time doing computer science projects for corporations. His early corporate and publishing careers are documented as one of six entrepreneurs profiled in the book Self Made, by John Stickney, published by J.P. Putnam’s.

Ultimately corporate work lost its appeal. He quit and returned to graduate school to finish his doctorate. That led to a teaching job search that concluded at Sacred Heart. In addition to a group of published books and articles, Bob has had five major international fellowships, including two Fulbrights and a World Bank research grant. He also served as special projects advisor to Prime Minister Sali Berisha of Albania. Bob’s current work at Sacred Heart focuses on game design, in particular, using markerless motion capture to create animated game characters.