Central College has published “Synaptic,” a collection of student’s work from across academic disciplines during the 2023-24 academic year. 

This year’s submissions profile interdisciplinary and multimodal work that students create through their coursework. The 44th edition includes a score for a musical composition, a prop design from the musical theatre production of “Young Frankenstein,” ceramics and short stories.

Sydney Lowe, a class of 2024 communication studies and English major, served as the lead editor of “Synaptic.” Other editors were Amelia Brown and Fynn Wadsworth from the class of 2025, and Keilah Brewer from the class of 2026. Academic advisors for the publication were assistant professor of English Katherine Nesbit, professor of art Mat Kelly, and associate professor of communication studies Stavros Papakonstantinidis.

Each year, a student-written piece that the selection panel considers to have superior rhetorical competence, high levels of readability, originality, and insight, is recognized for the John Allen Award. Jessie Pospisil from class of 2025 received this year’s honor for her work “Chaos is Not Wished Away.”

“The Writing Anthology” now known as “Synaptic,” was founded in 1981 by professor emeritus of English Walter Cannon as a way to annually recognize the work of students from a wide range of academic disciplines. View this year’s “Synaptic” here.