Current EHP members

Class of 2020

SALLY BARRILLA
is an English major with a creative writing specialization and professional communications minor. She is also a new writer for Lehman College’s newspaper, The Meridian. Her passion for reading and writing was sparked by her teachers bringing her books after noting she was only able to speak Spanish. She transferred to Lehman in Fall 2017 because she wanted to attend a university that had a diverse community and would prepare her to reach her career goals. Sally has also recently become a Presidential Scholar and a recurring member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars as well as the National Honor Society. She loves to take a hands-on role in teaching her family members how to read and write in English. Sally has hopes to work in various writing careers, from journalism to blogging to writing novels (she currently has a goal to write a 1,300-page book). Her favorite author is Stephen King and she can reread almost all of his horror stories without getting bored.

YENICK M. GONZALEZ
was born and raised in New York City. She is also known as DJ Nicky G on The Bronx Journal Radio, producing the Latin Lunch Hour at Lehman College. She is an English major with a specialization in Creative Writing and a minor in Theatre, Film and Television. She plans on earning her master’s degree in Creative Writing. She started writing poetry at a young age and credits Edgar Allan Poe, Jane Austen, Ann Radcliffe, Eliza Haywood, Julia de Burgos and Sia as influences in her writing. She has had three of her poems published. She hopes to one day win a Pulitzer Prize and become part of the Literary Canon.

NATALIA KIERZKOWSKA
is a Macaulay Honors Student majoring in English and Philosophy. Growing up, she spent an abundance of time reading, and dreamed of one day writing like her favorite authors. Natalia also enjoys baking, decorating, and listening to music.

RENÉE PENDARVIS
is a double major in African American Studies and English with a concentration in Creative Writing. She is also pursuing a minor in Women’s Studies. One of her favorite hobbies is writing poetry, and she hopes to publish a poetry book in the future. Renée believes that the best people do things solo. (Go Renée!)

FRANCIS PAUL MERENCILLO
is currently majoring in English with a Literature concentration. He aims to grow as an academic as he forwards his understanding of what literature is and how it creates an impact in the twenty-first century. Besides reading, he also enjoys listening to music, vandalizing his notebooks with random scribbles and doodles, and watching anime and classic movies.  

DAVAUGHN RILEY
is an English Honors Professional Writing major with a minor in Philosophy. He is also a member of Tau Sigma National Honor Society and the National Society for Collegiate Scholars. He hopes to one day own his own public relations company. He also wants to contribute to rewriting the narrative of the African American minority that has been incorrectly portrayed for centuries. He hopes his writing will inspire others the same way writing continues to inspire him. He wants to be able to share his voice and lift the voices of others. He would also like to write scripts for films and television shows as well as become an executive producer. 

MELISSA TEJADA
is a student at Lehman College majoring in English Literature. She has always loved reading books, so it was fitting to make it her focus in life. She is a writer for the college's newspaper, The Meridian. She is also a member of the ASEZ club, a group determined to clean up the streets and the Earth with positive reinforcement.

Class of 2021

THOMAS BEHNKE
is pursuing an English major with a concentration in Creative Writing. He has held various editing positions, been a contributing writer for The Meridian, and has also had poetry accepted for the Spring 2020 issue of Obscura. He has previously had poetry and essays published in small press magazines including Talebones, Connections, and Gathering Darkness, as well as a story published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Power of Gratitude.

ARIANA HERNANDEZ CARRASCO
is an English major with a minor in Mexican/Mexican American studies. After graduating from Lehman College, her academic goals are to receive a master’s degree and a Ph.D. She aspires to pursue a career as a college professor. In her free time, she enjoys painting and hopes to one day sell her work to make money to purchase a car.

KABRIEN GATHERS
was born and raised in the Bronx, New York. He came to Lehman College during the Fall of 2018. He is an English major with a concentration in Creative Writing. Kabrien’s favorite quote, a mantra he believes all creatives should live by, comes from Ralph Waldo Emerson: “To be great is to be misunderstood.” Being a creative himself, Kabrien’s passion is writing scripts for television, movies, and stage plays that he dreams of having produced in the near future. Two of his short plays can be read in the 2020 volume of Lehman’s literary magazine, Obscura. His main goal is to have his own television series titled Thank You, My Friends, which he describes as an animated mix of Modern Family and Family Guy, picked up by Netflix or a major television network. (Stay tuned!)

SONIA GONZALEZ
transferred to Lehman College in the fall of 2018 to pursue a degree in English Literature. Her work as a freelance writer and editor prompted her return to college. She is a regular contributing writer and editor for Mommy Poppins, a national digital parenting resource. She has also been published on What Should We Do?!, a digital lifestyle blog, and contributed to New York Magazine’s 2018 Best of New York series. When she is not studying, reading, or writing, she is most likely enjoying time with her husband and three children. 

BRANDON MENDEZ
is pursuing a double major in Philosophy and English. After completing his degree, he intends to teach in a high school. He is also an aspiring poet, and would describe his work as strange and invasive, but musical and evocative. He enjoys consuming art in all of its forms. When interacting with him, it's prudent to recognize that he may be self-absorbent to a fault, but he always means to have good intentions. He generally responds well to smiles.

ANGELA PETEANI
is currently majoring in English with a Creative Writing concentration and minoring in Middle and High School Education. She is set to graduate in Spring 2021. Besides reading and writing, she enjoys seeing musicals, going to Disney World, painting her nails, and talking about her cat.

ISHA SERRANO
is an English major with a specialization in Creative Writing and a minor in Women’s Studies. She enjoys pouring her heart into poems and brief reflections, of which nature plays a huge role. Isha also enjoys drawing and painting while listening to SZA, her favorite artist. She is set to graduate in 2021 and hopes to later earn a master’s degree. She aspires to become an English professor at Lehman College. Through her classes, she hopes to help students grow and learn more about themselves. One of the books she vows to always keep on her bookshelf is J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye.

Class of 2022

BRITTANY AUFIERO
is a third-generation Italian American and first-generation college student. Born and raised in Queens, Brittany is set to graduate from Lehman in the spring of 2022 with dual Bachelor's Degrees in English honors creative writing and honors media communications studies with a minor in business law. Over the course of her time at Lehman, she has served as the Editor-in-Chief of Obscura, the college's literary and arts magazine, and also as the Editor-in-Chief of The Meridian, Lehman's student newspaper. Through her continued editorial work with these publications, she remains strongly committed to elevating the marginalized voices within her community. Brittany also works at the Lehman Tutoring Center as a writing tutor and workshop facilitator, specializing in plagiarism awareness, academic research, and structural development for college-level writing assignments. This past summer, she was given the opportunity to serve as a PEN America Intern for the Literary Awards team, where she assisted in vetting books submitted for various cash prizes in preparation for the nonprofit's annual spring awards ceremony. Brittany is an avid reader, aspiring novelist, and emphatic coffee enthusiast. After she graduates, she intends to complete a Doctorate in English literature.

JASMINE GONZALEZ
lives in New York City and is a senior at Lehman College. She is majoring in English Literature and minoring in Latin American and Caribbean Studies. She has been a Presidential Scholar since her enrollment in Lehman in the Fall of 2018. In her Fall 2020 semester, she had a poem published in a Covid-19 Chapbook for Lehman College’s Literary Magazine, Obscura. Over the summer, she interned in the awards department for PEN America where she rediscovered a love for books and reading. In the future, she hopes to publish her own writing to further help the agenda of giving voices to marginalized writers, especially those who struggle with mental health. Her favorite author is Gloria Anzaldua because of her unapologetic honesty when it comes to standing up for the unheard voices of women of color.

RAFIANA MARTINEZ
is an English Honors major Concentrating in Creative Writing. at Lehman College. She is Vice President of The Latinx Student Alliance, and President to Obscura Literary Magazine. She has performed her poetry at Stone Soup Open mic night, ¡La Esquina! Open Mic night, and Inspired word. She is Editor of Obscura’s Literary, and Arts Magazine Chapbook titled Poetry in the Times of Covid. She has been published in LHM Vol. 1 Columbia University’s Latinx Literary Magazine, and In Protest through Poetry Anthology. As a writer, poet, and mother of three children, Rafiana is determined to work with the youth and teach them to use literacy as a positive outlet to express themselves, while simultaneously ending educational inequality. She hopes to one day publish several Anthologies and novels.

JENNIFER MEDINA
is a Macaulay Honors College student studying at Lehman College. She is majoring in English with a concentration in Literature. She loves to read stories that fully immerse her into a world that is unlike her own. She also sometimes enjoys writing her own stories, journal entries, and poems. Her other hobbies include baking, doting over her dog, and listening to alternative rock music. She hopes to one day work in publishing as an editor.

AMANDA MENDEZ
is a double major in History and English with a concentration in English Literature. She is a member of the Lehman College Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, an honor society on campus. This year she was able to intern at the Brooklyn Museum as a curatorial assistant and is currently a writing tutor at the Lehman Writing Center. In the future she plans to get her master’s degree in Library Science so she can work in libraries and museums across the world. During her spare time, she enjoys makeup, cosplay, and reading books, mostly about vampires. She has hopes to publish her own writing one day.

SIBYL RANDOLPH
is an English major with a concentration in Literature and plans to graduate in 2022. After a long pause, she decided to return to college and transferred from Baruch, where she was pursuing a Computer Science major, to Lehman, where she changed her major to English. Her English professors and their classes have both inspired her to write and challenged her to do her best. In addition to attending classes, she also works full-time at Bronx Community College and is currently the Clerk of Session at her church. She is also interested in teaching adult literacy classes.