Jenaya is a multi-genre writer and artist in her fourth year as a Creative Writing and Psychology major. She’s proud to represent The Nav for a third year in a row, this time as Managing Editor. She lead social media and was Art Director for Portal 2024, where her review of Burning Sage and photos such as “Match Made” and “Wall-Crawler” appear. Over the summer, she worked as an Editor for GOOEY Magazine. Now, having served as co-Program Coordinator for the Nanaimo Arts Council’s 2024 Islands Short Fiction Review, she is the leading Coordinator for Nanaimo Artwalk 2024. Jenaya spends her free time reading, drawing, playing survival horror games, and writing her novel. Her future dreams include catching rays and reporting in Australia or Taiwan.

Laurent is a fourth-year Creative Writing student. As a queer writer, editor, designer, and professional daydreamer, Laurent loves to experiment in alternating genres. In 2023, he took on the role of Managing Editor at Ryga and obtained a Writing and Publishing Diploma from Okanagan College. Now, after editing stanzas and socials for Portal 2024, he is eager to kick off his event planning debut. You can find him cycling the streets or holding his breath in Montréal where he swims competitively.

Jack is a fifth-year Creative Writing and Media Studies student who spends their island time writing novels and creating digital art. In 2023, they were the President of VIU’s Creative Writing Club and co-Managing Editor of Portal Magazine. Their art, script, and poetry appears in Portal and is most prominent in the 2024 issue featuring their digitized “Circuit Girl” on the cover. Jack also has notable Nav lore as The Nav’s very first Podcaster.

Ella—short for Ellisif—is a passionate English and Liberal Studies student in her fourth year. She enjoys fashion and Lana del Rey, and spends her free time reading, writing, and thrifting.

Elke is a third-year Creative Writing and Digital Media Studies student. She hosts at CHLY  and has multiple non-fiction publications in Cabin Radio, The Vintage Seeker, and Healthy Debate, plus a poetry publication in Portal. Elke is also a musician—she’s played at The Vault in Nanaimo and her music is available to stream on all platforms (*wink wink*). Elke hopes to continue her work in broadcast and is currently working on a weird horror short story collection about canines.

Paige Vandop is a third-year Creative Writing student at VIU. She has self-published a young adult science fiction novel, The Masked Rebellion, and is trying to work on her trilogy in between school, her freelance editing services, and being Managing Editor for Portal Magazine. When not working on her writing, Paige can be found…well…probably still working.

Lee is a writer, poet, and fourth-year Creative Writing and Journalism student at VIU. When he’s not writing for The Nav, Lee can be found dissociating at his day job, daydreaming at home, getting lost in a good book, or counting the stars in the sky.

Kieran is a fourth-year Digital Media Studies major with a passion for videography/cinematography. In his off-time you might catch him making music or filming a video with friends. He’s a diehard hockey fan and looks forward to filming some great sports content for The Nav.

Alonso is a third-year Digital Media student at VIU. He has been practicing photography since he was 15 years old and recently started working with videos about two years ago. Alonso has worked as a photographer in both Canada and Mexico (that’s where he’s from!)

Emily is a third-year Creative Writing major who has loved expressing herself through writing since early high school. She enjoys sharing her pieces with the world—particularly poetry—and is currently working on an anthology which she hopes to release soon. Emily mostly writes about mental health, fantasy, romance, and nature. Her main strength is coming up with great ideas for any task at hand, and she always brings the good vibes. In her personal life, she enjoys hanging out in nature, thrifting, and travelling whenever she can.

Mackenzie is a third-year Graphic Design student with a background in science. Previously, she graduated from VIU with a diploma in Fisheries and Aquaculture. Mac was born and raised on Vancouver Island and may be found hiking and wandering the island’s many trails in her spare time.