By Jasmine Schmidt | Staff Writer
Megan Necochea and Abigail Ruffcorn, two students in the Whitworth University Honors Program, had their work accepted into Scribendi Magazine, a publication of the Western Honors Council. In addition to having their work published, they will be attending the Western Regional Honors Council Conference in Long Beach, California, during spring break.
Necochea, an English major, is in her final year at Whitworth. With the goal to make a career out of writing, she submitted a short story to Scribendi magazine, written in her fiction writing class. The story was about leaving a small desert hometown and never going back. It was overlayed with an anti drunk driving program where everyone goes out to watch a fake car crash. “I had been rejected a couple of weeks before by a different magazine, which was so exciting. It was my very first real rejection, so you know, all the excitement that comes with that, but then getting the email that said I was accepted felt really good. It felt like, oh, maybe I’m a real writer,” said Necochea.
Ruffcorn, a double major in political science and English, submitted three pictures to the magazine. One was of a little girl in a fountain at Manito Park, one was a photo taken using a macro lens of a dandelion, and the final photo, the one chosen for the magazine, was a black and white portrait of her grandparents.
“I was very excited. I think it’s so fun. […] I was honored by it. I think I’m really excited that I get to show people the photo of my grandparents, too, because they were actually Whitworth [graduates],” said Ruffcorn.
Dr. Bert Emerson, the head of the honors department at Whitworth, was the one who encouraged honors students to try and get published in Scribendi. Necochea and Ruffcorn are the first students from Whitworth to be published by this magazine.
“Megan has been an enthusiastic creative writer since the moment she set foot on campus,” said Emerson. He walked with Necochea through her years at Whitworth and has been impressed with her work ethic and ability to get projects done. She finishing a novel by the end of her sophomore year with the guidance of former English professor Dr. Jake Andrews. “She’s clearly really motivated and productive and she has just continued to refine her craft over the years in her time as an English major,” said Emerson.
Ruffcorn is in her first year at Whitworth but has been making good impressions since her arrival. “I’ve been really impressed by her smarts, her work ethic, and her willingness to jump right in and give it a shot,” said Emerson. He is looking forward to seeing where she goes in the honors program.
Emerson hopes that these successes will inspire other students to apply for publications or take other risks. “To have the record of success shows other students that they are capable as well, and hopefully promotes future risk-taking and future students thinking, ‘Oh, I can do this,'” said Emerson.