By Desiree Leader | Staff Writer
Dakota Potter, a 29-year-old Liberal Arts Major from Keene, New Hampshire is not your average community college student. Potter, in his last semester at the Mount, will be graduating in May. He will be transferring to Bridgewater State University for the spring semester, where he was recently accepted into their Archeological program; but that is not what makes him different from your traditional college student.
Potter has a gift for the English language – a gift he has been nurturing since he was just a child. “I got my start when I was really young,” he reflected, mentioning that he was quite a precocious reader. At just five years old, he was reading (and comprehending!) the Harry Potter book series, and he started writing stories when he was eight or nine. “They weren’t very good,” Potter admitted, ”but I had the passion for it.”
Potter didn’t let that discourage him. Determined, he kept on writing and improved by reading a lot. “I was very lucky to have a handful of very understanding and caring English teachers in Middle school,” he said.
Perseverance seems to be a theme for Mr. Potter. He started his college career at Johnston State School in New Hampshire right out of high school, but it wasn’t a good fit for him. It wasn’t until he came to Mount Wachusett Community College for the first time in 2015 for transfer credits that he found what he was looking for. He decided to come back and re-enrolled in 2021.
He explained his love for the Mount, saying, “It really stands apart from any other community colleges… the first time I ever came here to the campus it really stunned me by how
beautiful it was.” He credits the beauty of the campus, with the windmills, as well as the variety of the students for his interest in this school. He was most impressed by the faculty and staff. “You can tell that they really care about and support their students.”
Potter’s newest venture is a book of poetry that he wrote, bound, and published himself. The title, Squash Blossom, came from an Italian dish. “I was making fried squash blossoms and zucchini pasta,” he said. “I love to cook.” He thought about cooking while cleaning up, and then thought about measured prose, and the poem that lent its name to the title was born.
The book is an anthology of ten poems that he wrote, inspired by his recent study abroad trip to Iceland, as well as the writers’ group he attended on campus. Potter mentioned that he doesn’t usually write poetry, but he had a lot of encouragement from his professors and his classmates.
One of those classmates, Lindsay Mahoney from Groton, stated, “He is an extremely talented wordsmith, which shows in his work.” She continued, mentioning, “His words…evoke a very visceral array of emotions, thought, and reflection.”
The book itself is certainly an act of love for the craft. Printed out and bound by hand on cardstock and high quality cotton paper, the book of ten poems was also hand-sewn, and the cover was illustrated by the writer himself. For those interested in reading the published poems of this MWCC student, they are available on Amazon as an E-book, or as a hard bound copy from the writer’s website: torenfanepress.myshopify.com.
Haiku
By Dakota Potter
Sharing is scary
But when it’s necessary
Courage will follow
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