ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – A Bay College student has received statewide recognition for her writing.
“I’ve been writing since I was very, very young,” said senior Ayla Polfus. “I use it to vent, I use it to kind of work through stuff, I use it when I’m bored. I’m pretty much always writing, even on my phone.”
In November, Polfus earned the top spot in the fiction category of Bay’s annual local writing contest with a piece titled “To See.”
“I kind of wrote it when I wasn’t in a good place at all,” she said. “It mainly talks about mental health. Everybody who’s read it has had a different interpretation, which is kind of cool.”
Then, “To See” was chosen as the first-place winner of the Liberal Arts Network for Development (LAND) creative writing contest.
“It obviously means I did a good job, but having people read it and kind of go, ‘Yeah, this is good,’ it is a nice experience to be recognized like that,” said Polfus.
Polfus drew from a personal experience to create a powerful metaphor.
“I lived on a lake for a good portion of my childhood, and it talks about poking holes in the big, heavy-duty, thick plastic sheeting that people put over the windows for the winter,” she said. “I remember a few times growing up poking holes in that. It talks about looking out and bringing in the cold.”
At Bay, Polfus is studying social work. She has aspirations of earning a doctorate degree in the future and hopes to help people working through grief and trauma.
Polfus’ understanding of and passion for emotional and mental health are evident in “To See.” She hopes everyone who reads it finds what they need.
“The way I interpret it was mental health and going through medications, medications, and more medications,” said Polfus. “I’ve been on about 16, and I only finally just recently found the one that works for me. That’s the struggle I put in there, but the biggest takeaway from my work is interpreting it into their own thing. “
Polfus and other winners will be honored at an event hosted by the LAND organization later this month.
