Students in Randolph-Macon College English Professor Seth Clabough’s January Term (J-term) course, Feature Writing, not only learned how to write articles and submit them to magazines—they experienced the excitement that comes with becoming a published author. All 13 of Clabough’s students conducted interviews, wrote features, and had at least one work accepted by local publications.

Clabough (RMC Class of 1998) is executive director of the Higgins Academic Center, director of the Communication Center, and an assistant professor of English. He designed the Feature Writing course to be project-based and reflect the real-world process of trying to get work published. 

Clabough wanted the course to feel less like a traditional class and more like a room full of freelance writers. “On the second day of class we talked about the editors we were slated to work with,” he says.  “I told them, ‘You need to stop thinking about this course as just a class and yourself as a student—you are independent feature writers now, there’s an editor Skyping in tomorrow, and she will be expecting your feature article submission on Monday so she can consider it for publication.’  I’m really proud of the work the group put in to produce their stories and share them with a broader readership through publication.”      

From Students to Published Authors
Will Pohlmann ’21, a communication studies major and journalism minor, is the author of Unexplained Hauntings at Randolph-Macon, which is published in RVA Magazine. The article explores the many ghost stories that have been written about the college throughout the decades. “It feels great to see something that I have written get published,” says Pohlmann.

English major Kiran Heffner ’21 wrote an article about SPARC, a Richmond non-profit that helps children express themselves through art. “The most important thing about feature writing is that an author shares people’s stories,” says Heffner, whose piece will appear in RVA Magazine. “You inform and educate people, and you tell a person’s story and share a piece of them with the world. It’s amazing how powerful this form of writing is.”

When English major Emily Gerke ’20 read the course syllabus the night before the Feature Writing class began, “I truly had no idea what I was getting myself into,” she says. “Professor Clabough did a phenomenal job at teaching this course; he gave us so much free rein yet was a guide and constant support throughout the entire month.”

Gerke’s article about Hitting Cancer Below the Belt (HCB2), a Richmond-based organization that raises awareness about colorectal cancer, was published in RVA Magazine.

“The editor of RVA Magazine went above and beyond; instead of just changing or deleting things in the article, she took time to explain why she was making the changes, which is something I really appreciated,” says Gerke. “I can take those criticisms and apply them to my future writing.”

For Lauren Hepburn ’22, being a published author “feels like a real sense of accomplishment.” Hepburn, an English major, wrote about a local womenswear designer who lived out her family’s legacy. “The most important aspect of this course was the application of skills,” she says. “We put into practice what we learned in class.”

Learning from the Experts
In addition to publishing opportunities, the class also heard from writers and editors. Jenny Vrentas, who wrote the Sports Illustrated (SI) Sportsperson of the Year cover story on Megan Rapinoe, joined the class to discuss her article and her work as a feature writer at SI. Jessica Ronky Haddad, editorial director of Richmond magazine, and Marilyn Drew Necci, editorial director of RVA Magazine & GayRVA, also joined the class to talk about their work as editors, what they look for in feature articles, and to discuss publication opportunities with the class.