Kristina Erny interviewed AL Creative Writing alumni from her last five years at Concordia. Many of them have gone on to major in Creative Writing or continue use their creative writing practice to shape their preparation for careers in theatre and media, biology, or business and personal finance. Many have continued to shape and impact their college writing communities with their passion and love for Creative writing.
Harper Cryer, class of 2025, is currently earning a double major in Media Communications and Creative Writing with a minor in Theatre at Asbury University.
She credits Applied Learning Creative Writing for introducing her to many writers which greatly influenced her style and her understanding of her experiences as an adoptee. She said she wouldn’t be majoring in creative writing if it weren't for her AL CW experience, and that AL prepared her to take upper-level English and CW classes during her first year of college. She remembers fondly how workshops helped her to learn how to articulate her choices as a writer and to integrate peer feedback to strengthen her writing. She also valued being able to put together her final chapbook citing how gratifying it was to see her work come together.
Currently she is the editor-in-chief of her university’s literary magazine and has had several pieces published in mainstream literary magazines including a recent piece being accepted into an anthology that will be published next year. Her advice for current Concordia students is to “always go after those little “what ifs” and be open to where they might take you.”
Tracy Lei, class of 2025, is earning a double major in Cognitive Systems and Biology at the University of British Columbia. She cites AL Creative Writing with encouraging her t engage with diverse creative forms, stepping outside of her comfort zone with poetry and creative essays. She said writing and generating work in these genres sharpened her writing skills and her eye for detail, both of which are more useful in daily life and her current field of science.
In her first year at UBC, she started a literary magazine that now publishes work across UBC’s campus and hopes to “provide a space that is accessible to all UBC students and can encourage everyone to grow their creativity”. Her advice to Concordia students would be to “never underestimate the importance of creativity in all of life’s tasks. While we tend to focus on our memorization or analytical skills in school, being creative is necessary to adapt to new situations or approach complex problems! I take just a few minutes each day for creative downtime, and I’d say it makes life so much more manageable”.
Cayden Chng, class of 2024, is a Junior attending Hamilton College, double majoring in Creative Writing and Sociology. He argues that we are “made of stories” and our ability to tell these stories well greatly impacts our day-to-day lives. He says he wouldn't be “leading the creative writing club on campus or editing for the campus literary magazine if not for my ability to tell stories. AL Creative Writing taught me how to write stories that resonate with people, opening opportunities I otherwise wouldn't have. In an age infested with AI, writing earnestly and authentically has become a defining factor in setting yourself apart from the masses.” Cayden remembers fondly the end of semester reading where students were able to publicly share their work. This past summer he was able to attend the New York City Poetry Festival and shared his work there. He also was accepted into the prestigious New York Summer Writer’s institute where he workshopped his writing with undergrad and graduate students for a month, studying under contemporary poets Megan Fernandes and Elisa Gonzalez. At the institute, he interviewed an award-winning poet and hosted various informal readings. He connected with Creative Writing MFA students who gave him advice about applying to grad school. He credits AL Creative Writing with giving him this foundation. His advice for current Concordia students is to experiment: “If you’re a seasoned writer, experiment with your writing style, genre, and form. If you’re a STEM kid, try out creative writing as a break from all the numbers and equations you work with. Anyone can write, so why not give it a try. Write something funny, write something serious, and write something for someone. High school is a time to try as many different activities as you want so take advantage of that and find out what makes you uniquely you.”
Nathan Ouyang, class of 2024, is a Junior studying at Oberlin College and Conservatory majoring in trombone performance and minoring in Creative Writing. Nathan appreciates that AL Creative writing allowed him to explore so many different forms, “slowly unveiling my creative voice” which had previously been dormant.
AL Creative Writing prepared him for life after high school in many ways, by cultivating a deeper appreciation for his fine arts colleagues in other disciplines and the power of the arts to bring about change in the world. Through workshoping AL Creative writing taught him how to be a better collaborator and more empathetic listener. Since coming to Oberlin, Nathan has taken part in numerous creative writing classes outside of his music major, so many, in fact, that he inadvertently earned himself a creative writing minor! He plans on applying as a staff writer for the Oberlin Review and continue to submit his work to literary magazines. Nathan’s advice for current Concordia students is to “embrace the cringe, do things that scare you, do things because they seem pretty cool, try something new because why not. Accept that you don’t actually know who you are as a teenage and make time for your friends, tell people how much you love them, and most importantly, be kind to yourself.”
Brandon Tan class of ‘25 is currently studying Business at Brandeis University. He credits that the Applied Learning Business & Finance program helped prepare him for his goal of pursuing a career in portfolio management. He claims that “early access to professional tools such as Morningstar gave me a strong foundation and made it much easier to navigate more complex platforms, including the Bloomberg Terminal, later on. During my international finance internship, I also found that managing a diverse client base came naturally because of the hands-on faculty advisory project I completed in AL Business & Finance. The program gave me practical experience working with clients, communicating professionally, and solving real business problems.
Just as importantly, AL provided Brandon with valuable networking opportunities by connecting him with a wide range of companies and professionals: “Those experiences helped me better understand the finance industry and gave me confidence as I began pursuing opportunities beyond high school.” Brandon, like many Concordia students, took courses across the AL program, also taking AL Creative Writing his senior year.