Dana Scott / Winonan

Winona State University senior Leah Perri won the fiction entry of the Winona creative writing prize for her short story, “Date Night.”

Perri is majoring in English writing and is graduating in May.

“It’s kind of sad one door is closing,” Perri said regarding graduation. “But there’s so much to look forward to. I’m excited.”

Perri hopes to one day work in the communications department of a nonprofit for a cause that she is passionate about, which for Perri is sustainability or “green careers.”

After graduation, Perri plans on spending three months in Ireland, and then three months in Italy working on organic farms through a program called World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms.

She hopes to gain experience in the field of sustainability and open other doors that could lead to a career in writing about these topics.

“As a reporter, you are an observer, you are writing about cool people and the things they are doing,” Perri said. “I want to be the person doing the cool things. I want to do something that’s making a difference that I feel really good about everyday, even if it’s in a small way.”

Perri’s interest in sustainability has been a “growing interest.” There are two roots in which this interest has stemmed from.

Her sophomore year she went on a travel study to Ecuador, where she learned about sustainable ways to make a living.

Perri also used to work at the Blue Heron, and she said they pride themselves on having homemade, organic and local food.

“There is a solid community of people here (in Winona) who have a high appreciation of those things and are environmentally conscious,” Perri said.

Perri currently writes for the Winona Daily News as an education reporter for k-12 schools. She expressed that there is a food a wellness column, but it was already covered.

However, she enjoys going into classrooms and working with teachers and students.

Perri shared how she has been writing her whole life. She explained she was always the kid who made up and wrote stories and was a big reader.

Perri likes writing fiction the most because she says it comes naturally to her. However, as a change of pace, she is taking an advanced poetry class right now.

She has never had any of her creative work published before, and she has never submitted anything before the Winona creative writing prize because she was too shy.

“When you write creatively, your work is close to your heart and you don’t want anyone to criticize it,” Perri said.

Perri said she is now more willing to submit her work to other magazines because she said, “there is nothing to lose, so why not.”

Perri wrote her short story in Professor Oness’s advanced story-writing class and she mentioned how she did a lot of work shopping with it in the class, which really helped.

The short story “Date Night” is about a middle-aged woman who is very stubborn and is struggling to come to terms with things in her life.

“It’s not as sad or serious as I made it sound there,” Perri clarified. “It has humor and surprises.”

Perri’s short story “Date Night” will be featured in Satori, Winona State’s literary magazine, at the end of the semester. Copies can be found in the library after April 25.