Jordan Beck | Daily Press From left, Grace Kraniak reads her essay “Any Less a Life” as Heidi Kirschner, Lacesha Welch, Marissa Tuyls, Heather Israel, Kaitlin Malanowski and Joshua Upton look on. These Bay College students participated in “A Celebration of Serendipity,” an event held at Bay Thursday afternoon.

ESCANABA — Bay College students involved with writing and the arts had a chance to share their work with the public during “A Celebration of Serendipity,” an event held at the college Thursday afternoon. The event marked the release of “Serendipity 2019,” a Bay publication collecting written and artistic works created by students at the college.

“These books are available here on campus, and they are free,” Arts Faculty and Fine Arts Coordinator Kristine Granger, art advisor for “Serendipity 2019,” said.

Amber Kinonen, an English instructor and the publication’s writing advisor, said “Serendipity” has long been an annual tradition at Bay.

“We start in the fall. We have a couple meetings … and we talk about the process and if we want to make changes to it or not,” she said about putting “Serendipity” together.

During Thursday’s event, multiple Bay College students read poems and essays they had written that are featured in “Serendipity 2019.” Heather Israel read an essay she wrote called “Born with Grit.”

According to Israel, her essay is about how she has dealt with difficult situations in her life.

“I’ve had to learn to be my own hero — growing up without one, having to be tough at a young age,” she said.

Israel said working on her essay taught her about writing and gave her an opportunity to confront events in her past.

“I learned that I am … worth more than my shortcomings,” she said.

Marissa Tuyls read a considerably shorter piece during Thursday’s event — a poem she wrote called “Fire.”

“I thought I wanted to make a … traditional Japanese (poem), which is a haiku,” Tuyls said.

A haiku is a three-line poem in which the first and third lines contain five syllables and the second line contains seven syllables. Tuyls said writing a poem that could fit this structure was a challenge for her.

“In a way, it was somewhat difficult, but I got it done,” she said.

Several films made by students in Bay’s digital cinema courses were shown as part of “A Celebration of Serendipity.” Two of these films were short documentaries.

“Lessons From a Foxhole,” by Kay Palmcook, focuses on the stories of World War II veteran Gus Groeneveld.

Palmcook said she is a volunteer at the Jake Menghini Museum in Norway, Mich. About 40 veterans have done video interviews through a program the museum is involved with.

According to Palmcook, these interviews are in the process of being archived.

“Bay’s helping with that … processing through offering the (Digital Cinema) course,” she said.

Palmcook’s goal in making “Lessons From a Foxhole” was to preserve a piece of history.

“I just wanted to share the lessons… that they’ve so willingly shared with us,” she said, referring to the veterans who have participated in the video interview program.

“Right To Be You,” a documentary by Sarrah Wilson, features interviews with members and supporters of the LGBT community at Bay College.

“I wanted to bring more awareness to the college and just overall,” Wilson said.

Wilson said she learned a great deal while working on “Right To Be You.”

“I learned that everybody’s story is different, and they have different experiences,” she said.

The third film screened during Thursday’s event, Nathan Tufnell’s “We Are Alive,” is a short film dealing with a zombie apocalypse.

“It was inspired by the AMC TV show ‘The Walking Dead,'” Tufnell said.

One of Tufnell’s favorite things about making “We Are Alive” was working on its special effects. He highlighted a scene where a character’s hand is cut off as an example of this.

“I used a fake hand that I had to buy online … and then lots of fake blood,” he said.

Granger said she was impressed with the poems, essays and films shared during Thursday’s event.

“I just found all of the students’ work very provocative, brave (and) compassionate,” she said.

“Serendipity” is important because it lets Bay students put their creative talents on display, Kinonen said.

“What I like about this publication is that it seems to highlight different areas of our campus,” she said.