A large part of the liberal arts education involves learning how to write well, no matter what field you end up pursuing. It’s difficult to be a good writer without being passionate about the writing subject, which is sometimes the case in classes that students take to fill Common Curriculum or Pathways requirements.
However, there are other opportunities where students can enthusiastically create ideas and express them for an audience larger than a dozen students and a professor.
As a sophomore, I was unaware of all the opportunities within Trinity’s community that existed. Specifically for students interested in developing and publishing their writing, there are multiple organizations to which students can contribute and work as editors during the school year.
One publication that allows students to both edit and contribute content is “The Trinity Review,” an undergraduate literary art journal published once a year during the spring semester. While it is completely student-staffed and run, Jenny Browne, a professor of many poetry-related classes here at Trinity, helps advise the student editors as the “Review” is put together.
Browne explains that the “Review” aims to “give students an outlet for performing new creative work.” This idea develops into prose, artwork, poetry and photography every spring when students submit their content in hopes of expressing their voices to the world. And because it is a merit-based publication, students from any major can have the chance to be printed in the magazine if their work makes it through submission process.
“The Review” also encourages student-led creative expression at open-mic nights. Currently, the “Review” only hosts two annual open-mic nights, but they are working to create more events in the near future.
“The Trinity Review” is not the only option for students looking to put their work into the public eye. “The Expositor” is a journal of undergraduate prose that seeks “to show off the high quality research being done by undergraduates in the humanities,” said Andrew Kraebel, one of the leading professors behind “The Expositor.”
“The Expositor” is a promising organization for students seeking to gain real-world publishing experience. It looks and works like a real academic journal, following many of the same procedures as the journals in which Trinity faculty publish their own research. There is a revision process for accepted submissions in which six faculty members work with the writers to polish the final drafts.
Students looking to get involved in this process without submitting their own writing can intern in the spring for one to two English credits copyediting “The Expositor.” You do not have to be an English major to apply for the internship.
In addition to “The Expositor” and “The Trinity Review,” “1966” is a literary magazine made up of student editors, but independent from Trinity University. The online journal contains works of creative nonfiction from sources around the world and within Trinity.
Though it’s more common for students working for “1966” to be English or communication majors, it is not exclusively limited to students of a certain major. Students can apply during any year to work as an editor and earn one credit hour for their work.
Senior Nipuni Gomes, an editor for “1966,” says working with the magazine rewards students with insightful and useful knowledge about the “publication process, social media management, public relations and communication in a professional setting.”
