Utica University’s Ampersand magazine teamed up with the Women’s Wrestling team on campus for their 2025 Spring Issue. The magazine allowed submissions from students, staff, faculty and recent graduates. Submissions included poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, drama, photography and artwork.

“Creative writing and art always offer opportunities for writers, artists, and their audiences to understand the world, and it’s the goal of Ampersand to showcase the creative voices of our Utica University’s community and our unique stories and perspectives,” English Professor Kelly Minerva said.

The Ampersand aims to highlight many people’s different perspectives and creative works, which shows that more people other than just English and Communication and Media majors can be writers. Ampersand staff was able to team up with the Women’s Wrestling team, with the help of freshman wrestler Lauren Palmer, to host a creative writing workshop to share stories and ideas with one another. 

“[Writing poems] was a part of my ‘mental training,’ and [my coach] reached out to the Ampersand staff to see if there was a way the whole team could [join],” Palmer said.

Multiple female wrestlers and the head coach shared their work and have played a big role in this year’s edition. According to Minerva, many of the wrestlers shared their stories of using writing as an outlet to process their emotions and focus that energy on paper instead of other people. 

“If you can be honest with yourself in writing, you can be honest with yourself on the mat,” Women’s Wrestling coach Conner Lapresi said. 

English Professor Ane Costa shared some writing tips with the group at the workshop that help people open up and write their true thoughts and feelings without too much pressure. Some of her tips included:

• Writing can be an uncomfortable space and a liberating space.
• Use your own voice; be you in your writing.
• Everything in life is about balance and everything in writing is about balance.

According to Minerva, the magazine is published every spring semester by volunteer student editors who choose which pieces to publish and design the magazine’s layout. Submissions that were accepted were also eligible for the Joseph E. Vogel Awards, which include cash prizes for first and second place in prose and poetry. One person could submit up to five pieces for the 2025 spring edition.