![](https://www.uticainstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/7A00FD5F-ADFC-478A-805C-1E8CB6E44389-1024x577.png)
Students! Enter the Mary Ella Holtzclaw writing contest for your chance to win prizes and compete in the college-wide contest in late October. Utica entries are due by October 11th. Prizes will be awarded to the top essay and poetry submissions received. Enter the contest here!
Mary Ella Holtzclaw was the wife of Utica founder, WIlliam H. Holtzclaw, and was instrumental in the Utica Institute’s success. Serving as Dean of Women, Mrs. Holtzclaw ran the school during Mr. Holtzclaw’s long fundraising trips each year. A graduate of Tuskegee, Mary Ella believed strongly in the school’s mission to teach everyone who came to the campus.