Briana Greco, staff writer 

Megan Postol is a Public Relations and Journalism major and is looking forward to graduating from Utica College this year. Although Postol is just a student here, she probably differs in the fact that she is in the process of writing and publishing a book. Postol is from Remsen, New York and is very enthusiastic about her hometown and its history.

The whole project came about when she was just flipping through a book at Barnes and Noble and came across a publishing company named Arcadia. Megan has always loved to write; therefore she looked into what Arcadia is all about and eventually fell into the spot of writing a book for them.

Arcadia is a publishing company in South Carolina that works with different authors to publish visual histories about cities, towns, and areas with rich historical backgrounds across America. After seeing one of Arcadia’s books at the bookstore, Postol contacted the company.

“Everything just fell together,” Postol said.

The book she is currently writing is a visual history about her hometown of Remsen, with a little dose of its neighboring towns such as Steuben, Hinckley and Forestport.

The book is approximately 18,000 words and is formatted with chapters focused on each area, including pictures and the historical facts each place holds.

Postol has a private editor through the publishing company who she works with for her book. Arcadia gives her deadlines she must meet to turn in certain sections of the book to have edited. Although she doesn’t have the burden of editing her own work, she does have to make sure her facts and information are valid. The final section of the book is due this month, and it will finally be published and put out nationwide in July.

She found her interest for the history of places when she held an internship previously at the Rome Historical Society. Despite the fact she truly enjoys this area of work, she admits it is time-consuming and takes a lot of hard work.

“I don’t recommend taking on something like this while in school,” Postol said.

She also admitted to being a procrastinator, which it makes it stressful to get everything perfect like she wants. With everything she has taken on, she is more than enthusiastic about her work and the book coming out in a few months.

There have also been several people in Megan’s life who helped her along this journey. A woman from her hometown has provided pictures of the area for her to use in the book, along with the pictures she acquired from her parents and family members. Postol noted that Professor Chanatry, head of the Journalism Department at UC, has helped Megan immensely along the way with her writing and overall through his teachings in journalism.

Professor Orzechowski has had Megan in numerous classes.

“Megan is one of the most conscientious students I’ve had,” Orzechowski said.

“She’s genuinely inquisitive, which is one of the best attributes to have as a journalist. To take on a project like this speaks volumes about her as well as her connection to the area.”

Postol said she has always wanted to write a book of her own one day, and it’s just so that the day is now.