UM-Flint students hone real-world skills in pages of Qua

Every semester, a small team of students at the University of Michigan-Flint builds a literary magazine from scratch — soliciting submissions, deliberating over selections, designing layouts and hosting a public launch. By the time it's done, they've picked up skills no classroom assignment quite replicates.

The Qua Literary and Fine Arts Magazine, approaching its 60th year, has long served as a creative outlet for writers and artists in the Flint community. But for the students who run it, the publication has become something else: a crash course in editing, communication, project management and teamwork.

"One of the most transferable skills I've learned being a part of Qua is just how to work in a group dynamic, where everybody has a different perspective — some vision that they have — and trying to translate that into something cohesive that other people really like," said Emmaya Mendez, a senior English major from Jackson and the magazine's assistant editor. "Finding a way to have everybody's voice be heard, but still making something that we all feel proud of."

Jae Koplen, a senior English major from Davison and the magazine's editor-in-chief, said the role came with unexpected demands.

"I always complain that my number one enemy is emails," Koplen said. "I send a lot of emails as the editor-in-chief. I was not expecting that. But there's a lot more outreach and communication involved than I was expecting, which has been a really good skill to learn."

Both Mendez and Koplen started their roles in August 2025 and will graduate in December 2026 — the only two current staff members to carry over into the following semester. They'll spend the upcoming semester recruiting and training new staff members who will take over for them for the winter 2027 issue.

Providing a measure of continuity is Dave Larsen, who has served as Qua's faculty adviser since fall 2019. Larsen, a lecturer IV in English, works to ensure the student team has the support they need without hampering their problem-solving and leadership development.

"My philosophy has always been a 'stand back and listen' approach," Larsen said. "I want the students to do as much as possible, from soliciting works to marketing the magazine to work selection, layout, printing and launch. I step in when they need me, when they have questions about the magazine, when there might be conflicts on staff, or when they need advice or encouragement."

Larsen said the scope of what the editorial staff takes on — while managing full course loads and often jobs — consistently impresses him. "The group had learned that providing oversight for a small press means so much more than line editing that they might do in a writing class. It's a lot of legwork."

For Mendez, one of the most striking parts of producing the magazine has been watching a theme emerge organically from submissions — even when none was ever assigned.

"We don't have a set theme for any of our editions. We don't tell anybody to create something based on a preconceived idea," she said. "But every single time, you kind of see some sort of overarching feeling or theme that people are really gravitating toward.. I just can't believe we're all talking about the same thing, and none of them had any idea what the other submissions were."

Looking ahead, Koplen said one of his top priorities for the fall edition is expanding the range of languages and cultures represented in the magazine's pages.

"We have a really homogenous viewpoint of our school community, and I really want to expand that," he said. Koplen has already reached out to the director of UM-Flint's Center for Global Engagement to connect with communities that might be interested in submitting work in languages other than English.

Since Qua accepts submissions from the greater Flint community, the majority of the current issue's content is derived from off-campus writers. Mendez said she hopes to see broader campus participation in the future — particularly from students outside the English department.

"We have a lot of creative people in STEM careers and majors," she said. "I'd love to see more (student) engagement across campus — not just the writers, but also the photographers and the painters."

Both editors are using the experience to chart paths after graduation. Mendez, who also serves as managing editor of The Michigan Times, said Qua has widened her sense of what an English degree can do.

"It's opened me up to so many more avenues that my major can take me," she said. "It's shown me a lot about how adaptable my skills have become."

Koplen, who wants to open his own publishing house in the future, said the experience of building a magazine from the ground up each semester — on a tight deadline — has been invaluable preparation.

"I'm more interested in novel publishing for my personal future goals, but I think there are a lot of transferable skills and experiences that I've gotten from here that I can take into future publishing work," he said.

This fall, Qua will mark its 60th anniversary with a special celebration tied to the edition's launch, planned for November. Koplen said he hopes to bring back former contributors and staff members. "We plan on making it central to the fall 2026 edition, celebrating the decades of work and creative tradition," he said. "I'm looking forward to meeting former contributors and staff members, and to not only celebrate how far we have come, but all of Qua's chapters that are yet to be written."