Kristen LeFevers is a PhD student on the Rhetoric, Writing, and Linguistics track and teaches first-year composition (FYC) at UTK and Pellissippi State Community College. She has taught composition and literature courses at various institutions, tutored at the Marshall University Writing Center, and served as the director of the Online Writing Lab at Huntington Junior College. In her classroom, she uses frequent low-stakes writing assignments to facilitate students’ deeper engagement with readings and course concepts to build their confidence toward larger projects. As an expat West Virginian, she is passionate about confronting linguistic biases in the classroom and making space for students to write in their own voices and dialects, even as they prepare to compose in more formal, “academic” discourses. Kristen’s general research interests include Appalachian culture and studies, specifically Appalachian dialects and identities and the way they intersect with the demands and conventions of FYC. Through her scholarship, she hopes to advocate for the next generation of students from rural Appalachia and empower them to embrace both their scholarly and regional identities with confidence in the college classroom.