By Abby Kozal, Culture Editor
Magna Verba, Aquinas’s academic writing magazine, celebrated its 2025 launch on April 22 in the Grace Hauenstein Library Gallery. Magna Verba is an annual publication that highlights academic work written by students enrolled at Aquinas College. Literary works from across multiple departments are judged by a panel of writing center consultants and are then compiled into a booklet for publication.
This year marks the fourth annual publication of the magazine. It was created by Aquinas alumni, and former writer center consultant, Kim Becker. As a student-led project, Magna Verba works as a companion to The Sampler, Aquinas’ creative literary magazine.
Grace Wilson, Editor-in-Chief for this year’s publication, gave the opening address, thanking the current editorial team, former editors and “the library for offering the
Grace Wilson delivers opening remarks for Magna Verba 2025 – Photo by Cristian Zacharias
This year, ten submissions were selected for publication from across various disciplines at Aquinas. All works submitted went through a double-blind review process judged by Aquinas Writing Center Consultants, with accepted works later undergoing rigorous editing and proofreading before print.
“All of our authors are to be applauded,” Aquinas Writing Center Coordinator Julie Bevins said in a statement printed within Magna Verba. “We received many strong submissions, which were carefully read by our editorial team during our double-blind review process. Due to page limits, only 27 percent of submissions were selected for publication this year, making final selections a challenge for our editors.”
Authors accepted into this year’s publication include: Laura Standel, Lauryn Wood, Sophia Lentine, Carissa Matthews, Regina Mondro, Victoria Scovel, Matthew Schieber, Quinn Fjelstul, Annalisa Maichele and Romy McKeller.
Lentine, a junior at Aquinas and a member of Magna Verba’s editorial team, also produced the cover art for this year’s printing. Her oil painting, “Golden Hour,” utilizes the complementary colors of purple and yellow to depict a vibrant-colored still life.
Writers featured in this year’s publication pose with their Magna Verba booklets – Photo by Cristian Zacharias
Towards the end of the event, Assistant Editor Alex Rodriguez took to the podium to announce next year’s editorial team. Rodriguez will be stepping into the role of Editor-in-Chief while freshman Ashlyn Armock and junior Zoebelle Bean will take the places of Assistant Editor and Proofreader respectively.
“It’s been a real joy working on Magna Verba 2025, and I am incredibly proud of what we have accomplished this year,” Rodriguez said. “We had a lot of different challenges, we’ve learned a lot and we came out on the other side, maybe a bit sleep deprived, but we finally made it. “
The Saint 