OXFORD, Miss. – Students in the Freshman Writing program at the University of Mississippi recently showcased their literary and artistic talents in an online magazine that they created this fall.
The inaugural edition of Venture Online is available for viewing. 
Early in the fall semester, adjunct English instructor Mildred “Milly” West approached UM English professors Doug Robinson and Robert Cummings with the concept for the project. With funding from Freshman English and the College of Liberal Arts, as well as substantial dedication of talent and energy from the Division of Outreach and Continuing Studies, she created Venture Online.
“The goal was to get the students excited about writing,” West said. “While many would rather do anything than write a paper, they may revel in writing a poem or competing for their space in a magazine.”
Students who wanted to participate had to deliver their submissions electronically to the Venture inbox. Submissions go to a panel of readers who serve as judges.
“Each panel consisted of three teachers or three teachers and one student,” West said. “The panel had a few days to read the work, talk among themselves and decide whether the work was worthy of publication.”
Students also could submit artwork for the cover and illustrations. Writers selected for publication received awards, but all students who submitted entries and were published got a Venture Online T-shirt.
Cummings, founding director of the Center for Writing and Rhetoric, said that he is impressed by the final results.
“Ms. West has, in the span of one semester, produced a creative writing venue to a level which normally requires about three to four years of development,” Cummings said. “The results of their work are truly spectacular. In the future, we hope to make even more print copies available and expand our Web presence.” 
The combination of creative freshman writing and the publication’s rich visual display give readers a sense of the energy, vitality, and originality of voices within UM student writers, Cummings said. “I am more than thrilled to read the first edition of Venture Online.”
To commemorate the launch, many of the students read their contributions at a recent campus reception.
Venture Online is to be published once during the fall semester and once during the spring semester, West said.
To read the inaugural edition of Venture Online, visit http://www.outreach.olemiss.
For more information on the Freshman Writing program, go to http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/