DOWAGIAC — A 2017 Southwestern Michigan College graduate who is now SMC’s bookstore assistant manager has been accepted into Harvard University’s master’s program in creative writing and literature.

Katie (Wright) Valtierra graduated from Dowagiac Union High School in 2005, when she was first runner-up to Miss Dowagiac Courtney Dufour, who also graduated from SMC. Valtierra then joined the army and spent two years in Afghanistan.

After completing her SMC associate degree in communications, Valtierra transferred to Western Michigan University for her bachelor’s degree in creative writing with a literature minor she received in April. Valtierra had previously worked for Follett bookstores during three semesters in Dowagiac and at WMU. She re-joined the SMC bookstore on May 3.

“After I got out of the army, my vocational rehabilitation counselor through the [Veterans Administration], which paid for my schooling, convinced me I should major in English because it’s better to do something you love than to do something you hate to make more money,” Valtierra said. “I took a writing class with [SMC instructor] Joe Coti, who convinced me to change my major to creative writing because, according to him, I’m very skilled at writing. He said reading might be what I love, but writing is where my talent lies. Teaching English with a creative writing degree opens more doors, so I took his advice. I had three classes with him [children’s literature, creative non-fiction writing and creative fiction writing.]”

Harvard University Extension School is one of 12 degree-granting schools that constitute Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Applying to Harvard was impulsive, but so were seeking Miss Dowagiac and joining the Army, Valtierra said. 

“I joined at a time of war,” she said, “so thinking I wasn’t going to deploy was unrealistic. I was a truck driver stateside for a year and for a year in Afghanistan, then I reclassified to cargo helicopter mechanic and crew chief.

“The Harvard program I’m starting is designed for working adults. … At some point, I have to go there for three weeks and do a residency, but for the most part, it’s online. This summer is my first one off since I retired from the army and started school. I would have stayed in the service if I hadn’t got hurt and been forced to retire.”

As much as she enjoys reading fantasy and science fiction, Valtierra is seeking a master’s degree for teaching.

“Maybe someday” she said she will write a novel, but “just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. I’ve always been good at English, and I’ve always enjoyed reading, though.”

She bought a house between Dowagiac and Cassopolis that will give her a five-minute commute to work. She said she is tired of moving after “bouncing around” between Texas, Missouri, Virginia, Louisiana and California. Valtierra spent a year in Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan, six months in the south and six months in the north around Mazar-e-Sharif.

She repaired and maintained helicopters, performed pre- and post-flight inspections and “crewed,” sitting in back with instrument panels, monitoring such things as hydraulic pressure.

“I only got shot once,” Valtierra said. ”A round went through a brick wall and hit me, but I had my plates on so I got a really nasty bruise and a couple of cracked ribs, but that’s it. No bullet holes.”

She is equally matter-of-fact about her Harvard acceptance.

“I’ll be more impressed when I graduate from Harvard,” she said. “Anybody can do anything with the proper amount of will power and self-starting motivation. It doesn’t matter where you’re from as long as you’re motivated. I think my mother instilled that when I was little. She used to always say, ‘Did you do your best?’ As long as you did your best, it was okay not to be perfect. What I heard was, ‘You didn’t try hard enough.’”