By: Damaris Abreu
Early in the Spring 2026 semester I wrote an article titled: Say Yes Scholars Program to Publish Their First Anthology. To be included in the published anthology they had to participate in a program called The Author’s Academy.
The program was offered by the Say Yes Scholars Program’s director, DeAntae Ware, in conjunction with Dr. Michael Copeland, educator, author, and consultant. Together, they made it possible for us to complete the program in five months, even though some students also joined the meetings virtually.
To commemorate our great accomplishment of becoming contributing authors of a book, we each received ten copies of the anthology donated by the Say Yes’ program. The book’s title represented the effort we had put into developing and finalizing our chapters. Representing how we struggled to navigate the highs and lows of every day, along with trying to manage the increasing demands of college life.
After experiencing these emotions as we worked toward completing our chapters, it is clear why the title of the anthology resonated so much with each of us: Transforming Through College: Stories of Growth and Grit resounded with each of us.
As an additional surprise, at the end of The Author’s Academy we learned that the anthology cover would feature a ribbon saying: Book 1 of a Series! Our collective experience was so positive that the leadership decided to continue helping us with self-publishing authors.
DeAntae shared, “The expectation is that during Tri-C’s 2026-2027 academic school year we will continue working with Dr. Copeland. The goal is for all of you to be able to write and publish your own book.” We received the anthology books with permission to decide if we wanted to sell or donate them. The Say Yes program will sell books through their booksby.com account to help continue providing program services.
There were eleven co-authors of the 145-page anthology who were the following: Damaris Abreu, David Abreu, Israa Alhashal, Dr. Michael Copeland, Sheilly Mencias Calix, Earl Roberts III, Ashley Rodriguez, Gordon Rowa, Cemyra Stanley, DeAntae Ware and Mishauna Whiting.
Under the partnered leadership of Dr. Copeland and DeAntae Ware, we received coaching on developing our authentic writer’s voice. We gained confidence in sharing our book ideas with each other. And we greatly benefited from the Author’s Academy’s invited self-published authors: Nicole Miller and spoken word performer, author, and poet Tommie Stanfield.
When I decided to work on my first spoken word performance, Tommie was kind enough to hear me practice. Afterward, he gave me positive feedback on what I did well, as well as shared advice on how to help me build self-confidence. He assured me that every spoken-word performance is part of a learning process and prompted me to share my poetry from a place of passion, understanding that mistakes are a natural part of my development. And convey the connection we have with the passage we share.
Anticipating the book launch event day was exciting. But on the day of the book launch, most of the scholars and I felt anxious. We wondered whether we could answer candid questions about our chapter. Especially since we had to respond in front of the community and college audience who came out to support us.
To our surprise, we each felt more confident than we had expected during our turn. DeAntae helped the audience get a sense of our experience behind the writing process by asking us one or two of the following questions:
1.What’s your chapter about?
2.Why should someone read it?
3.What is one lesson they’ll walk away with?
4. If your chapter had a movie title, what would it be?
I remember how glad I was that I chose to do my spoken word poem. I became keenly aware of how certain sections of my prose solidified my conviction in the meaning behind the words I wrote.
On Thursday, October 22nd, we had our second book launch at Tri-C’s Metropolitan Campus.
I hope that after reading about this Author’s Academy experience, you are encouraged to awaken the writer or poet within. For many creatives, writing is a way to release stress by putting emotions down on paper. The time taken to develop ideas can help you reconnect with connect with others and improve your writing skills.
Consider joining the Author’s Academy when it starts to meeting again! Even if you don’t think you’re a writer, you may be surprised to learn you enjoy the writing process. It’ll be open to all students, and the Say Yes Scholars program can help students not traditionally eligible through the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD).
For more information about the Say Yes Scholars program or future Author’s Academy program participation, contact DeAntae Ware, Program Director, at deantae.ware@tri-c.edu
