{"id":66,"date":"2018-06-01T15:36:42","date_gmt":"2018-06-01T22:36:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/?page_id=66"},"modified":"2026-03-31T09:01:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T16:01:17","slug":"student-spotlight","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/student-spotlight\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Spotlight"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Krista Nave reads her poetry at Skylight Books<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Check out our ongoing Senior Project Anthology<\/em><\/a>\u00a0 featuring samples from student senior projects<\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

Gummy (Adrianna) Procida, ’27<\/strong>, had her story “Woes of a Hopeless Secretary” published in The Writing Disorder<\/em><\/a> and in 2025 won the ULV student creative writing contest for three excellent flash pieces.<\/p>\n

Natalia Sanchez, ’27<\/strong>, had her poems “In the Land with the Merciful” and “Lady Trainable” published in Pomona Valley Review<\/em> issue 19<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Adonis Borer, ’26<\/strong>, won the Richard Cortez Day Prize in Fiction in\u00a0Toyon Literary Magazin<\/em>e’s 70th issue for\u00a0his brilliant story “In Xochitl, In Cuicatl.”<\/a>\u00a0(Toyon<\/em>\u00a0is the student literary magazine at Cal Poly Humboldt.) Adonis also has a short fiction piece forthcoming in\u00a0SeaGlass Literary<\/a><\/em>‘s twelfth issue.<\/p>\n

Jeremy Evans, ’26<\/strong>, had his essay “Shaking Hands on the Way Out” (pg 20) *and* his story “Buried Together” (72) published in the Pomona Valley Review<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Emma Garcia, ’22<\/strong>, has two poems in The Pierian Journal<\/a>, “Sing Through Me” and “Poetry Will Save Me.” Emma is in her second year at the MFA program at Georgia College and State University (and before that received the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Scholarship, had poems\u00a0 in The Sandpiper Review<\/em>, was a finalist for the Hollins University Literary Festival contest, and was the winner of the 2021 ULV undergraduate creative writing contest (chosen by alum Margo Cash) for three poems subsequently published in Prism Review<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Christine Martins, ’21<\/strong>, is starting her graduate studies in creative writing at the excellent Bath Spa University<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kendra Pintor (nee Craighead), ’18<\/strong>, just had her story “Death and Other Things You Can’t Afford”<\/a> published in Los Angeles Review<\/em> (this in addition to “The Mahanas” in Lunch Ticket<\/em>‘s Amuse-Bouche in November ’21…and her story “The Sluagh” published via The CRAFT Literary Magazin<\/em>e in January 2022–and reprinted in Best Small Fictions<\/em>\u00a02023<\/em>. they’ve since nominated it for including in The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Adrianna (Gummy) Procida, ’27<\/strong>, won the 2025 Undergraduate Writing Contest and was featured in this local news story<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tabitha Lawrence, ’17<\/strong>, completed her MFA in the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University in 2020, and has had her work published in Los Angeles Review<\/em> and elsewhere, and is the Prose Editor for Veliz Books<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Aimee Campos, ’19<\/strong>, had her story accepted by Mosaic Art & Literary Journal<\/em>, completed her MFA at Mount St. Mary’s, and has returned to ULV to teach several creative writing classes (including an amazing one on horror in Latinx works).<\/p>\n

Selena Cordar, ’23<\/strong>, was accepted into Cal State Fullerton\u2019s Masters program in Communications.<\/p>\n

Masa Shah, ’22<\/strong>, was accepted into Cal State Fullerton’s Masters program in Clinical Psychology.<\/p>\n

Sierra-Nicole DeBinion ’19<\/strong> received her MFA (fiction) from Antioch University Los Angeles, frequently contributing to Antioch’s great “Antioch Voices” series through wonderful posts like this one<\/a> about self-love.<\/p>\n

Hannah Schultz, ’20<\/strong>: Hannah completed her MFA at Long Beach State … and won the Atlantis Award through the poet’s billow<\/em>!\u00a0 (She has already had poems in Slipstream<\/em> and the\u00a0Cultural Weekly<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

Gabriela Ramos, ’19<\/strong>: in summer 2022, Gaby will also<\/em> be going to the 2022 Juniper Summer Writing Institute (Go Leopards!). In winter 2022, Gaby had their poem “holes.” accepted by the esteemed literary journal Pleiades<\/em>. In fall 2020, Gaby began working in Mississippi for the Teach for America program. In 2018, their literary essay “Healthcare” not only won the 2018 ULV undergraduate creative writing contest (chosen by judge Abby Chew) and was published in Prism Review #20<\/em>\u00a0…\u00a0 and<\/em> \u00a0was a finalist for the Dean\u2019s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research (Creative Expression) … and<\/em> garnered them a scholarship to the Juniper Summer Writing Institute … and<\/em> was one of two runners-up in the national AWP Kurt Brown Prize for Creative Non-Fiction. Judge Elizabeth Silver wrote, \u201cThis was an innovative look into family remedies in medicinal settings as a means of telling the narrator\u2019s story. A strong entryway into memoir\/essay. The voice is at once tactile and entertaining and leaps off the page.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

John Abbasi, ’16<\/strong>, had his story “Angel Hair”\u00a0 published by ANMLY<\/em>. In 2018, he completed his MFA in fiction at the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University; in 2016, he won the ULV undergraduate creative writing contest for his story “Darling Young Boy” (judged by Corinna Vallianatos) and the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research (Creative Expression). In spring 2020, he returned to ULV and to teach CWRT 204: Intro to Prose.<\/p>\n

Krista Nave, ’20<\/strong>: her poem “Justice Favors Fortune” was published in issue 4 of The Exposition Review<\/em>, and she read at their launch party at Skylight Books (sort of pictured above in profile).<\/p>\n

\"\"Cheyenne Avila, ’19 <\/strong>(pictured left, reading at La Plaze de Cultura y Artes) had her first book, I Will Forget These Poems but Never the Way They Healed Me<\/em>, published in 2019. In fall 2020, she’s beginning her studies in the UC-San Diego MFA program. While at ULV, she competed at the College Union Poetry Slam Invitational (2016, 2017), the Southern Fried Poetry Slam (17, 18), and won the 2017 undergraduate creative writing contest for her essay “The House on Ellburg Street,” judged by Kevin Riel. In 2018, her poems “Ekphrasis for ‘Gathering of Women’ by Tamara Adams” (Bird’s Thumb<\/em>) and “Brujeria and Bonnets: A Brown Girl’s Guide to Decolonization and Self-Actualization” (Crack the Spine Literary Magazine<\/em>) were accepted for publication, and she won Cultural Weekly’<\/em>s\u00a0Jack Grapes Poetry Prize, as chosen by judge Roc\u00edo Carlos.<\/p>\n

\"\"Guadalupe Robles, ’17:<\/strong> in 2018, her translation (from Spanish to English) of Gabriel Ch\u00e1vez Casazola’s Persistencia de los tatuajes <\/em>was published by Valparaiso USA; in 2019, she translated Cheyenne Avila’s poems (English to Spanish) for the bilingual edition of\u00a0 I Will Forget These Poms but Never the Way They Healed Me<\/em>. In 2017, her senior project was a finalist for the Dean\u2019s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research (Creative Expression), and in 2016 she won the ULV undergraduate creative writing contest (judged by Michelle Detorie).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Check out our ongoing Senior Project Anthology\u00a0 featuring samples from student senior projects   Gummy (Adrianna) Procida, ’27, had her story “Woes of a Hopeless Secretary” published in The Writing Disorder and in 2025 won the ULV student creative writing contest for three excellent flash pieces. Natalia Sanchez, ’27, had her poems “In the Land […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-66","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCreative Writing Student Spotlight | University of La Verne<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Looking for information about the Creative Writing Student Spotlight? Explore the University of La Verne\u2019s resources to learn more.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/student-spotlight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Student Spotlight\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Looking for information about the Creative Writing Student Spotlight? Explore the University of La Verne\u2019s resources to learn more.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/student-spotlight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Creative Writing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ULaVerne\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-31T16:01:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2019\/05\/IMG_20190503_201024243.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1267\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"950\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ULaVerne\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/student-spotlight\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/student-spotlight\/\",\"name\":\"Creative Writing Student Spotlight | University of La Verne\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/student-spotlight\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/student-spotlight\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2019\/05\/IMG_20190503_201024243-992x744.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-06-01T22:36:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-31T16:01:17+00:00\",\"description\":\"Looking for information about the Creative Writing Student Spotlight? Explore the University of La Verne\u2019s resources to learn more.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/student-spotlight\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/student-spotlight\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/student-spotlight\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2019\/05\/IMG_20190503_201024243.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2019\/05\/IMG_20190503_201024243.jpg\",\"width\":1267,\"height\":950},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/student-spotlight\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Student Spotlight\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/\",\"name\":\"Creative Writing\",\"description\":\"University of La Verne\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Creative Writing Student Spotlight | University of La Verne","description":"Looking for information about the Creative Writing Student Spotlight? Explore the University of La Verne\u2019s resources to learn more.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/student-spotlight\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Student Spotlight","og_description":"Looking for information about the Creative Writing Student Spotlight? Explore the University of La Verne\u2019s resources to learn more.","og_url":"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/student-spotlight\/","og_site_name":"Creative Writing","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ULaVerne\/","article_modified_time":"2026-03-31T16:01:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1267,"height":950,"url":"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2019\/05\/IMG_20190503_201024243.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@ULaVerne","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/student-spotlight\/","url":"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/student-spotlight\/","name":"Creative Writing Student Spotlight | University of La Verne","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/student-spotlight\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/student-spotlight\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2019\/05\/IMG_20190503_201024243-992x744.jpg","datePublished":"2018-06-01T22:36:42+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-31T16:01:17+00:00","description":"Looking for information about the Creative Writing Student Spotlight? Explore the University of La Verne\u2019s resources to learn more.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/student-spotlight\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/student-spotlight\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/student-spotlight\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2019\/05\/IMG_20190503_201024243.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2019\/05\/IMG_20190503_201024243.jpg","width":1267,"height":950},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/student-spotlight\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Student Spotlight"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/#website","url":"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/","name":"Creative Writing","description":"University of La Verne","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-21 18:13:44","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/66"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66"}],"version-history":[{"count":44,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/66\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":499,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/66\/revisions\/499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsci.laverne.edu\/creative-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}