Graduating creative writing student found her genre at CWU

Savannah Cottingham’s journey to her master’s degree has been anything but ordinary.

“I had this weird mindset that 22 was too old for me to be going to college, because all of the kids I went to high school with had already gone and were graduating,” she said. “I didn’t think I would fall in love with learning the way I did; I didn’t have a lot of confidence in myself as a student or as a writer. Now, I let my kids know that you’re never too old to start again, and that going to college deepens your confidence and broadens your horizons.”

A first-generation student and proud parent of six kids, Cottingham’s own childhood was marked by adversity and instability. Determined to make a better future for her family, she earned her bachelor’s degree in English from Montana State University in 2024 before applying to Central Washington University’s online Professional and Creative Writing master’s program due to its strong reputation and schedule flexibility.

Cottingham, 29, knew she wanted to be a writer, but at CWU, she discovered what she wants to write.

“It wasn’t until my last year, under the amazing mentorship of Dr. Walsh, that I worked out what kind of writer I wanted to be,” she said. “She cultivated such an amazing classroom environment that opened up a whole new world for me.”

After taking Assistant Professor of English Candace Walsh’s Creative Nonfiction course — a genre which she had previously dismissed as “boring” — Cottingham saw her path very clearly. She requested Walsh’s mentorship as part of an independent study curriculum, which provided Cottingham with a new handle on the life that shaped her.

“I have lived a life that’s quite different from most people, and for a long time I didn’t like to write about it, but it’s really been a therapeutic outlet for me,” she said. “Putting together a collection of essays for a novel in my independent study just burst me wide open. Once I got past my biases against creative nonfiction, I realized that it’s a really fantastic community to be involved in.”

In the single year since she began gravitating toward creative nonfiction, Cottingham has been published seven times in literary journals across the country, and her novel manuscript is coming along nicely.

Even with all this wind in her sails, however, Cottingham still isn’t done learning. She will be attending Warren Wilson College in the fall to pursue her MFA as this year’s recipient of the prestigious Rona Jaffe Foundation Fellowship, which will fully fund the first year of her degree.

“I have this saying I think about a lot, which is ‘a scholar could know all the secrets of the universe, and it still wouldn’t be enough,’ which is very much me,” she said. “I just love learning and exploring. I think that being in a writing community such as a school keeps you really motivated.”

Cottingham and her family will be making the drive to Ellensburg for the June 13 commencement ceremony, where she looks forward to showing her kids what can be accomplished through hard work and a good education.

“I think just having a parent who talks about college and makes them aware of their options is so eye-opening for them, because I never knew any of these things growing up,” Cottingham said. “My 17-year-old has just started working on his FAFSA and all these things, and I’m able to offer him advice and help him navigate that.”

With a bright future ahead for both her and her family, Cottingham knows that her time at CWU was well spent.

“I’m really grateful for all the opportunities that have been opened up to me through Central Washington University,” she said. “Having professors who really believe in you and your work — and aren’t afraid to tell you what you need to hear — really pushed me to grow, and that’s what has made this next step possible for me. I feel like a completely different person than I was two years ago.”