Last year, freshman Cambria Tognaci published her first novel. According to Tognaci, she knew she wanted to be an author since early in her childhood. By the age of 13, she had already started writing her first ideas and drafts, which later turned into one big idea for a book.

“I planned and planned from 2012 to 2015,” Tognaci said. “Once I had my message, I finally got to writing and let my imagination take me from there.”

Tognaci’s dream of being an author turned into reality in July 2018 when her first book, “Imaginary Friends,” was published.

“Imaginary Friends” is a young-adult fantasy about a girl who experiences abuse, foster care and mental illness. Tognaci’s passion for both writing and foster care meet in this book. Tognaci said her work as a nanny and work with kids who have hard lives at home were who inspired her. She said it opened up her eyes to difficult family relationships some kids go through.

Freshman McLane Ramsey, a friend of Tognaci, was surprised when she found out that her peer was a published author.

“I didn’t expect to meet someone my age who had already accomplished something as big as writing a novel,” Ramsey said. “Once I got to know Cambria and saw that her heart is so passionate for social work, it all made sense.”