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South Dakota State University’s student-produced literature and arts magazine, Oakwood, has been a community and regional favorite for decades. Thanks to a generous estate gift from Mary F. Buckmiller, the School of English and Interdisciplinary Studies will revamp the publication to continue flourishing in the future.

The Mary F. Buckmiller School of English and Interdisciplinary Studies Endowment fund will support the Oakwood in perpetuity.

First published in 1975, Oakwood has always been student-edited under the guidance of faculty advisers. This year, the magazine welcomed new advisers, Amber Jensen, senior lecturer of English and Writing Center coordinator, and Jodilyn Andrews, lecturer of English, who will help lead Oakwood into its next chapter.

Accepting a variety of literature and art, Oakwood is published each spring. The journal is printed and available digitally via SDSU’s Open Prairie repository.

While Oakwood began as a student magazine, the scope of the publication has expanded over the years. Beginning with the 2017 issue, Oakwood embraced a regional identity and began publishing work from writers and artists of the entire Northern Great Plains region at all levels of experience — from SDSU students to authors with multiple books in print. This includes those who are living in the region now and those who have been shaped by the region but currently live elsewhere.

“We intend for Oakwood to be an annual chronicle of the creative spirit of this region,” Jensen said. “The format of the magazine has also changed over time, and this year Oakwood will return to the full-color magazine style layout utilized from 2013-2020. This format allows us to highlight visual art in an engaging visual and intellectual experience for readers and writers.”

One avenue for student submissions is the Anika (Sarkees) Bahr Award for Student Creative Writing, established in honor of longtime supporter Anika Bahr.

A Clark County native, Bahr discovered her love for words at South Dakota State University, where she switched her major from journalism to English before graduating in 1965. She went on to teach English in junior and high schools and has been a devoted supporter of Oakwood through the years.

Students submit their work anonymously for consideration for the award, where winners receive cash prizes. All submissions are considered for publication in Oakwood.

“It’s an exciting thing for young writers when their work is published alongside other writers who are a bit more established or have published elsewhere,” Jensen said. “It makes it feel exciting and prestigious, but then it is also exciting for those veteran writers to hear the voices of students and emerging writers as well.”

Along with the experience of submitting to a regionally recognized journal, students can also gain tangible skills working on Oakwood. Students can enroll in a course, offered every spring, that provides the foundation of literary publishing skills and gives students hands-on experience with designing, editing and publishing Oakwood.

Reece Budde, a senior English major from Sioux City, said her team evaluated well over 150 submissions when working on Oakwood, giving her time to enhance her talents.

“I gained more copyediting, organizational and writing evaluation skills,” she explained. “Aside from the magazine itself, I also valued the time I spent learning from two older and more experienced students, considering I joined the team during my first year at SDSU.”

The experience of both submitting to and directly editing a literary journal is invaluable.

“It provides exposure to some of the things that oftentimes don’t feel real until you have an experience like this,” Jensen explained. “It adds a whole layer of professionalism, awareness and opportunities for students to grow in unique ways.”

For Budde, that growth extended to a greater appreciation of our region.

“I feel like there was a sense of connectedness with authors and artists due to their tendencies of drawing inspiration from places, landmarks and cultures I grew up learning about,” Budde said. “Simply put, the stories felt more personable.”

She continued, “I think it is important for magazines like Oakwood to exist because it brings people back to their roots. … Oakwood values the community around SDSU and the Northern Plains, and the pieces within it are proof.”

Mary Buckmiller was a lifelong learner and had a passion for promoting poetry and similar endeavors. With the support of the new endowment, Oakwood will continue offering a platform for voices from across the region.