From the time that Jerrica Staten was a little girl, the world of words fascinated her.  Now, a college senior, Staten has been selected as the Executive Editor and Creator of the Bethany Harbinger, a literary book published by Bethany College, as well as the creator of the first edition of the Psychology Department’s newsletter.

 

Staten started writing at nine years old as a way to channel her emotions and reframe negative situations. 

 

“One of my first short pieces was about how some of my classmates would put certain traits on people like clothes and then get angry when they didn’t fit,” said Staten.  “Writing became a perfect outlet to remove any injustices I felt and make them have happy endings.”

 

In middle school, Staten immersed herself in the world of fan fiction, which are fiction pieces written by a fan of a particular book, TV series, or movie.  She submitted a story to wattpad.com in the seventh grade called, “Can You Keep a Secret,” and within a year, it had over a million views and landed on the top 100 in the Romance genre.

 

From there she took as many creative writing and fiction workshops as she could in high school and college.  She graduated from Bridgeport High School in 2014, determined to continue writing.

 

“My favorite thing to write is fantastical realism,” she said.  “I post my works on Facebook and Instagram, and I have quite a few novels in the works as well.”

 

Impressed by her creative writing and the intensity of her work, her Fiction Workshop professor selected her as the Executive Director for the Harbinger.  The literary book has been published each fall since 2005 and features the works of everyone at Bethany College. 

 

“My job involved creating and arranging everything from the cover photo to the written submissions,” she said.  “I also had the final decision on what written pieces went into the book.”

 

Another professor recognized her talent and thought Staten was a good fit for the first edition of the Psychology Department’s newsletter, which Staten later named “Get Psych’d.” Her job is to create, edit, and write pieces for the newsletter.

 

“I’m very lucky to have not only supportive professors at Bethany, but also to have had such good writing teachers at Bridgeport High School,” she said. “When I first started writing, I never would’ve imagined that it would lead to a lifetime of words and creativity.”