Ella Torfin, junior, finds strength in writing and softness in sports
Ella Torfin fell in love with language as a young girl living in Singapore.
Her family moved there from Virginia for her father’s job when she was in elementary school. Over the three years she spent there, she began learning Mandarin, traveled throughout Southeast Asia and immersed herself in the local culture.
At her international elementary school in Singapore, she wrote a short story for a fifth-grade class project, and the rest was history.
From her early days of exploring storytelling in school, Torfin knew she was destined to become a writer. As a child, she dreamt of writing novels.
“My mom would gift me packs of printer paper as a little treat,” Torfin recalled. “She’d be like ‘I have a surprise for you,’ and it would be a full pack of paper, and I would just write stories on there.”
Today, Torfin is a junior double-majoring in Creative Writing and Linguistics with a minor in Chinese Studies at Boise State University. Beyond her impressive academic pursuits, she has found success as both a published writer and member of the Women’s Club Hockey Team.
“All I do is read, and so many books changed my life,” she said. “They changed who I am fundamentally, so the idea of [doing] that for someone else is really cool.”
After their time in Singapore, Torfin’s family moved back to their home state of Virginia. Torfin lived there until she graduated high school and fell in love with Boise State University while touring the campus.
“It was one of those things where I came here and felt like I was home,” she explained.
Both her grandfather and father attended Boise State, and her extended family lived nearby, so she never felt too far from home. After moving to Boise, her parents also came to the Gem State, Torfin joking that they “followed her here.”
Constantly writing, Torfin uses music as inspiration. She said she listens to songs that bring out emotions and imagery she hopes to portray in the stories she writes.
Torfin joked she loves to write “sad stuff.” Her stories tend to explore complex, poignant themes. According to Torfin, she loves using words to evoke strong emotions in her readers.
In December of 2025, Torfin’s friend Sophia Hue, co-founder and co-editor of the Backyard Artists’ Paper Plane Press, encouraged Torfin to submit poetry for their Volume Three release.
Paper Plane Press offers local writers the opportunity to have their poetry, fiction and nonfiction writing published in an anthology released one to two times a year.
“Paper Plane Press was a response to the relative lack of a literary scene in Boise and in Idaho,” Hue explained. “There are a lot of ambitious writers in our area, but there aren’t very many places for them to submit locally or showcase their work.”
Torfin decided to submit three poems for potential publication. While Hue helped select the works for the third edition, she explained submissions were anonymous until selections were finalized. Hue was thrilled when one of Torfin’s poems ended up being chosen.
Paper Plane Press Volume Three was released on Dec. 13, 2025, marking Torfin’s first time having her work published. At the launch party, Torfin read her selected poem and celebrated with other Boise creatives.
“To actually read it and see people’s reactions was such a wonderful experience,” Torfin said.
Hue expressed how proud she was of Torfin’s writing and work ethic.
“I don’t know if she would describe herself as ambitious, but she has a lot of dreams,” Hue said. “Especially this past year, I’ve seen her really go for all of them. She’s doing an insane amount of work, and she’s definitely a go-getter, a dreamer and super ambitious.”
According to Hue, Torfin is the kind of person who lights up a room.
“Ella is genuinely that friend that is so kind,” Hue said. She’s so funny, she’s so sweet and she genuinely cares about everybody in her life.”
Beyond writing, Torfin finds enjoyment through another creative outlet — a TikTok account dedicated to her love of reading. As a ‘BookTok’ creator, she makes a variety of videos ranging from she reads each week as a double major in college to book reviews on her account, @ellas.littlelibrary.
“[BookTok] has been another source of community because I meet so many people there that love stories, books and writing the same way I do,” she said.
Torfin has also used her TikTok account as a way to share her own work with the online community she has built.
“One of the best ways to become a writer and get people to see your work and interested in your work before it comes out is having a social media platform,” she said. “If I were to go the [self-publishing] route, I’d need to do all the work myself, so to already have a foundation really helps.”
On top of being a double major, running her TikTok account and reading and writing every day, Torfin wakes up almost every morning at 3 a.m. to pursue something totally different. When she’s not writing or making content, she’s on the ice with the women’s club hockey team.
Growing up, Torfin was never very interested in athletics, but she occasionally felt a pull toward hockey. She was a natural at floor hockey when she played in P.E. class and briefly considered joining her high school’s field hockey team before the pandemic ended the season prematurely.
As a freshman in college, Torfin saw a post advertising tryouts for the recently revived women’s club hockey team after the pandemic forced them to stop playing a couple years before.
Torfin decided to take a chance and try out for the team.
“Oh my god, I was so bad,” Torfin joked. “I had maybe been ice skating three times in my life before that. I was horrendous.”
When others may have given up, Torfin kept trying. She practiced skating, attended practices and never let herself get discouraged. Three years later, Torfin plays winger for the team and is proud of how far she has come.
“I still have a lot to learn, but I can’t help but be proud of myself,” she said.
For Torfin, the connection with her teammates and coaches makes the hard work worth it.
