Messina College students launch literary and art magazine
Messina College—Boston College’s two-year associate’s degree residential program—will introduce its first student-led publication, Genesis, next semester.
Genesis aims to amplify the voices of first-generation students, not just at Messina but across BC, according to its co-founders, Messina College Professor of the Practice Kat Gonso and Associate Professor of the Practice Amy Alvarez, who were first-gen students themselves. All first-gen students within the BC community will be invited to contribute, they said.
The debut of the literary and art magazine, which is supported by BC’s Institute for the Liberal Arts and the Provost’s Office, will also coincide with the graduation of the first cohort of Messina students.
Genesis co-founder Kat Gonso. (Caitlin Cunningham)
“Sometimes, as a first-generation student, it can feel like you’re not seen or heard,” said Gonso, who co-founded a similar publication, First and Foremost, when she was on the faculty at Northeastern University. “Building a platform for those who want to share their beautiful, rich, and important stories feels very meaningful to me.”
The magazine, titled Genesis to signify “generational newness” and “moving forward,” say the co-founders, has at least a dozen students who have committed to be contributors. Some 60 additional students from both the Chestnut Hill and Brookline campuses also have expressed interest in submitting work to the magazine.
Genesis co-founder Amy Alvarez (Caitlin Cunningham)
“Kat and I felt this opportunity was really important for first-gen college students,” said Alvarez. “Their voices are unique, and they have unique stories to tell. There’s such incredible energy around these students. They’re so driven and enthusiastic, and it’s really exciting seeing them work together to formulate what this will be.”
Gonso and Alvarez said there is also a strong desire to create a culture of writing and art at Messina, where the four degree majors are rooted in education, business, health, and STEM fields. Gonso, a fiction writer, and Alvarez, a poet, noted how impressed they are with the variety of skills many of the students have given their fields of study.
“As an English professor, I’m interested in the writing and the collaboration, but then some students will remind me, ‘Oh, we need this on the website, and we need this kind of marketing, and we should do this on social media,’ and my mind is just blown by how much they know,” said Gonso. “We don’t just have students interested in creative writing; we also have students who want to do marketing, photography, social media, web design, and graphic design.”
Joining Gonso and Alvarez as advisors to the magazine are Lynne Anderson, who is director of the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences Program for Multilingual Learners, and Assistant Professor of the Practice Krithika Vachali of the English Department. During the magazine’s first year of operations, much of their support will be dedicated to the board of student editors, providing answers to questions such as how to come up with an issue theme and consider commonalities between stories.
Gonso and Alvarez said they look forward to Genesis becoming a part of BC’s community of publications, the evolution of student leadership for the magazine, and the involvement of students from the Chestnut Hill and Brookline campuses in creating a publication.
This semester, Genesis faculty advisors and student contributors will issue a “call for writing,” inviting BC first-generation students to submit their work for the first issue, which is scheduled to come out next April.
For more information on Genesis, email kat.gonso@bc.edu or amy.alvarez@bc.edu.