The Starzinger Writing Center—named for Page Hill Starzinger ’76, whose contributions, along with those of Stephanie Sides ’73, helped plan, launch, and endow the space—has become a hub of activity for writers and those seeking guidance to improve and grow their skills. “This enclosed, protected space allows us to geek out over writing, engage in activities together, and really not be bothered by outside distractions,” says Alexa F. ’26, co-head of the Writing Club. 

The space is also home to Humaniteam, a group of student tutors who assist their peers with history, English, and writing projects. “The Humaniteam has added tutors for creative writing, and I really like that we have a place for that,” says tutor Zahari F. ’26.

Beyond the walls of the space itself, Starzinger has become a source for information and inspiration for students to submit their work for awards and publication. Passionate writers who want to spend part of their summer exploring and elevating their work have also found support to locate and apply to summer writing institutes. 

Funding Future Writers

For the past two summers, Beth Leonard and Evans Starzinger have funded summer writing workshops for students who have requested assistance. The couple’s creation of the Leonard/Starzinger Opportunity Fund builds on the legacy of Evans’ sister Page, giving promising Emma students the opportunity to focus on their writing in settings where they can work with other accomplished writers. 

“When we were sailing around the world, we supported ourselves in part by writing, so both of us have spent time putting words to paper and trying to improve how we captured and shared our adventures,” Beth shares. “We learned that writing can be a lonely business, and it can be very difficult to judge the merits of one's own work.” Beth and Evan have found that critical reading by experienced writers offers a window into their craft: writers can see their creations with fresh eyes and understand how their works are being received and understood by others. 

“By giving Emma students the opportunity for an intensive experience, we hope to allow them to explore whether and how they want to pursue writing at Emma and beyond,” says Beth. “We have found it exciting and rewarding to learn about the students who have been funded, and we've been impressed with the quality of the programs they have attended. It is a joy to be a small part of their journeys.”

Margaret Wing Dodge Instructor in Literature Meg McClellan has served as the director of the Starzinger Writing Center since its inception, and managed the opportunity fund during that time. “Writing in community is a powerful learning tool, as I have seen through the Starzinger Writing Center,” Meg shares. “Spending a summer day writing with other writers gives that experience even more staying power.”

Whether the workshop is domestic, abroad, or online, the fees for summer writing workshops can range from $1,000 to many thousands of dollars, making them unattainable for many. “The process for allocating funds is evolving,” Meg shares, “But we were able to give everybody who wanted to do something a little bit of money last year.”

 

The Fruit of the Funding

FROM FLASH FICTION TO CREATIVE NON-FICTION

Zahari has spent the last two summers investing time in her writing, first at Brown and then at Yale. “I always liked writing, especially fiction,” she shares. “I attended a flash fiction writing program before, so I thought it would be nice to try a different one—this time, a creative nonfiction workshop. So I was there to try something new.” 

While the Brown summer experience was filled with students in classes on many different disciplines, the Yale Young Writers Workshop was solely focused on writing. “When we weren't in class, we would go listen to authors speak, or have open mics,” Zahari explains. “You could just be in a headspace that was all about writing.” 

“I think it helped me develop my personal voice,” Zahari continues. “It made me more comfortable writing about myself, and I don't really do much of that in class. It really helped me understand myself better and be able to explain my thoughts in a clearer way.”

Not only did Zahari expand her own skills—she says the non-fiction focus was particularly helpful preparation for college essay writing—she also brought that knowledge back to her Humaniteam work. “People usually come to me about history or English essays, but I can also help with creative writing. It's been nice; I like editing people's work.”

Since the Yale workshop, Zahari has continued to work on her pieces. Her short story, “Moths,” was recently published in Etymos Review, a youth literary magazine.

THE OXFORD DREAM

All Alexa wants to be is a New York Times bestselling author, and she had dreamed of going to Oxford since she was nine years old. With the help of the Starzinger fund, her dream became a reality when she was accepted to the summer writing workshop at Oxford, where she planned to invest time in writing a Gothic fantasy novel for her Signature project at Emma. 

After walking the 20 minutes from Lady Margaret Hall to Somerville College, Alexa spent the day with her fellow writers, talking about each of their own pieces, learning writing strategies, and responding to prompts provided by their instructor. “Our teacher was an English children’s author, and she was genuinely one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met,” Alexa shares. “I explained my whole project and the premise of the novel I was writing, and she would give me scene edits. We would talk about plot. She would evaluate my writing, and it was so helpful to have that one-on-one attention.” 

Beyond the writing homework, group work, and individual mentoring, Alexa’s time at Oxford afforded her the opportunity to take in some of the most iconic sites for aspiring writers. “We went to the Bodleian Libraries; they have every book published since 1602 in the UK in that library. Just the smell of the books—I thought, ‘This is the best day of my life.’ We climbed the 144-step tiny spiral staircase of St. Mary's Church Tower, the highest point in Oxford. It was first thing in the morning—the fresh air, just getting to see all of Oxford, the rolling hills, the colleges. It was one moment where I was like, ‘I'm really here, and I'm really doing this.’”

Alexa was about halfway through her manuscript at the time of the workshop, and she is now almost finished and is seeking a publisher. “Having the Starzinger Writing Center help me out with the funding made my dream into a real opportunity. I am so, very, very grateful.”

TO BE (A JOURNALIST), OR NOT TO BE

When Iris C. ’27 applied to The New York Times Summer Academy, she was interested in learning more about journalism as a career, as an industry, and as a product to be consumed. Having the support of the Starzinger Writing Center and the English faculty at Emma, Iris felt empowered and supported to try something new; she came away with a greater understanding and appreciation for journalists and their work.

“My course was specifically focused on reporting on different communities and cultures,” Iris explains. “Since it was held in New York City, we were able to visit and interview people from many different backgrounds.” The participants learned about the issues, events, and background related to a particular part of the city, including gentrification, local politics, immigration, etc., before heading out to interview its residents. After the interviews, Iris would take the rest of the day to write about what she’d learned. “Through the process, I learned a lot about rejection and how to ask questions based on someone's responses and energy levels in order to keep the conversation going.”

Beyond the experience of researching, interviewing, and writing, Iris participated in discussions of the current and future state of journalism as a profession. “This experience taught me that I love journalism, but wouldn't consider it as a full-time job,” Iris shares. “However, I use much of what I learned throughout the course to think critically about pieces of reporting that I now read. When I'm writing my own works for fun and for school, I’m better able to consider different perspectives and how I'm representing different people(s).”

WRITING FROM LIFE

When Hanna H. ’27 came to Emma Willard School, she was already a capable writer in her native Mandarin. Ms. McClellan’s fiction writing class in the fall of 2024 was the start of her writing career in the English language, and Hanna has already begun receiving accolades, with her award-winning poetry chapbook to be published this spring. Central to her journey was her summer at the Iowa Young Writers’ Studio, focusing on creative writing. 

“The theme was writing from life, so I wrote several fiction pieces and a few poems,” Hanna shares. “We read and discussed Alice Munro and James Baldwin. It's really their language and their way of writing—how they draw their inspiration from their daily life—that was deeply touching to me.”

After long, intensive days of workshopping their own work, Hanna and her fellow students spent many evenings at Prairie Lights, a bookstore near the University of Iowa campus. Writers—many of them graduate students at the university—read their published work, whether fiction or poetry. A host asked questions about what inspires them to write and what the particular work means to them, and attendees could ask questions as well. “I just love bookstores, so to go there every single day and immerse myself in the writing atmosphere… I've always wanted to be a writer and a poet. So I would just imagine myself standing there one day, reading my own work; how wonderful that would be!”

Following her time in Iowa, Hanna spent the rest of her summer gathering and evaluating her work. “As I reread my poetry, I feel like I was unaware of the consistency in the things I’m writing—most of my poems are centered around family, my mom, my grandma,” Hanna recalls. “I thought maybe I could gather them and organize them in a chapbook, because that's also something I really wanted to do. There are a few pieces that reimagine mythic figures and the work of other writers.” 

Hanna began to research different presses, reading their past winners to inform her strategy for submitting her work; her persistence paid off! Hanna’s chapbook, Mom, You Once Spoke of a River, was published by Concrete Wolf Publications in April. In addition, she was designated as one of only six “Writers With Distinction” in the YoungArts national competition, earning her a place at their National YoungArts Week in Miami this past January. Hanna subsequently won the Smith College Poetry Contest and read her poem at a celebratory event in April, alongside the poet who judged the competition.

Looking back, Hanna credits that first fiction-writing class with Ms. McClellan for starting her on a path to becoming a serious writer. “The fiction writing workshop at Emma felt more intimate to me. Ms. McClellan and the others in my class were not treating me just as a student, but treating me as a writer who is really serious about her craft and wants to learn which parts of her writing could potentially be better.”

The Last Word

The transition from being “someone who writes” to being “a writer” can happen in these quiet, intensive moments far from the distractions of the academic year. It is a transformation that Meg sees as the ultimate return on investment. “When students attend a summer writing program, they get to immerse themselves in what they love,” Meg explains. “Writing, reading, sharing, and writing some more in the company of other writers can validate and empower a student whose identity as a ‘real writer’ might seem fledgling.”

By removing the financial barriers to these immersive experiences, the Leonard-Starzinger Opportunity Fund—which Beth and Evan continue to endow—does more than just fill a seat in a workshop; it fosters the confidence necessary for our students to claim their place in the literary world. Returning to Mount Ida with more than just filled notebooks, they bring the conviction that their voices are not only worthy of being heard, but formidable in their own right.

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This article was originally written for the Spring/Summer 2026 edition of Signature magazine.

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