Literacy in action: Delaword brings student creativity front and center

By Erin French

Delaword, Delaware Technical Community College’s annual publication of student creative work, is preparing for its upcoming fall release. Each year, Delaword accepts submissions of poems, short stories, photography, artwork and essays.

Neda Zimmerman, Head Librarian at the Owens Campus, said that this is her first year serving as part of the Delaword Committee. After the deadline, the Committee reviews each submission and selects ones for publication, Zimmerman wrote in an email to The Wire.

Zimmerman said that this year has seen an uptick in submissions.

DTCC is preparing for the 2025 publication of Delaword. l PHOTO COURTESY OF JESSLYN DUMAN

“We typically have an average of 75 submissions each year,” Zimmerman wrote. “This year, we had over 90 submissions, which is an increase. We were super excited to see more participation this year.”

The selection process for this year’s issue finished in the summer, Zimmerman wrote. The Committee is now in the layout phase and is currently waiting for copies of the issue to be made.

The Delaword Committee expects the issue to be ready sometime this fall, Zimmerman wrote. An exact date was not given.

While initially exclusive to the Wilmington campus since its inception in 2009, the publication expanded to accept submissions from all campuses starting in 2020, Zimmerman wrote. All Delaware Tech students have access to read the issue once it is published.

“DTCC staff/students should look for publication announcements on the MyDTCC portal,” Zimmerman wrote. “A limited number of print copies will be available at each campus library.”

Elizabeth Romanovsky, a student part of the college’s Vet Tech program, was one of the students whose work was chosen to be published. She submitted two of her poems: “Crashing Waves” and “Phantom of Our Friendship.”

“I believe what inspired me to submit was just wanting to share my work with the public and see if it's actually good enough to be published, because my plan with my poems is to try to kind of make a poem book out of it and then try to publish it and hopefully even sell it,” Romanovsky said.

Romanovsky was introduced to Delaword through Neda Zimmerman during a work study program last fall, Romanovsky said.

“I had told her that I do poems, and so she was like, ‘Oh, that would be a perfect thing for you.’ And she let me know all about it,” Romanovsky said.

Romanovsky said she was initially shocked upon learning she had been accepted to Delaword, but shock soon turned to joy.

“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh I finally got something published.’ I was kind of proud of myself,” Romanovsky said.

“Crashing Waves,” the first of Romanovsky’s poems, is inspired by her love of the ocean and her connectedness to nature. Her second poem, “Phantom of Our Friendship,” touches on personal feelings of loss experienced during the emotional distancing of a best friend.

“It's kind of, in a way, a memory piece. Obviously, she's not like gone or whatever but she, ... her connection is gone,” Romanovsky said. “I feel like some people could even relate to it, because everybody kind of loses their friends sometimes.”

Romanovsky said she would submit to Delaword again if she had the chance.

“Once I hear that the submissions are open, I'm going to be doing it because I would love to show more of my poems,” Romanovsky said.

Brodie Sapp, a Business Administration transfer, is another student whose poetry was accepted to Delaword. The titles of his works are “Love in Seaford Since Dupont Shut Down the Nylon Factory” and “Ode to God (with Respect to the Late Marty Robbins)”.

Sapp wrote in an email to The Wire that he had submitted a huge PDF containing several of his poems and those two were the ones accepted. Sapp was glad Delaword had chosen to publish his work, since it provides feedback on the quality of his poems.

“It's hard to get strangers to read your poems which stinks because it's awkward sharing them with people you know personally,” Sapp wrote.

“Love in Seaford” concerns the consequences of economic hardship in Seaford and the surrounding towns. “Ode to God” is about Sapp’s personal acceptance of Christ and the peace he found by giving up his personal pride.

“The title is in reference to one of my favorite songs about Creation, which is ‘My Love’ by Marty Robbins,” Sapp wrote.

Romanovsky encouraged students to submit to Delaword, even if they believe their work is not good enough. She said that your perspective on your own writing is often negative due to constantly working at it.

“You shouldn't think about how you see it, you should think about how other people may see it. They may be like, oh wow, this work is really good,” Romanovsky said.

Sapp wrote that even in the case of rejection, your poetry and other works are still valuable if they mean something to you.

“If your poetry doesn't get chosen, that just means that it means more to you which makes it valuable,” Sapp wrote.

Zimmerman also encouraged students to submit their work to Delaword, even if they get rejected.

“Submitting work is already an accomplishment,” wrote Zimmerman. “It shows courage, commitment and willingness to share your voice with a wider audience. Each submission, whether accepted or not, makes you a stronger writer.”