Magazine O ers Creative Outlet

It has been years since the Middle School produced a magazine, but that will change in May because of English teacher Suzanne Ya e and her passion for writing.

Middle School students will have an opportunity to not only submit writing for the magazine but also to help produce it, Ya e said.

“As an English teacher, I see so much talent in our student body as writers, artists and leaders,” Ya e said. “I wanted to revive the literary magazine in order to provide a place these talents can be enjoyed by the wider community and to give students a forum in which they can collaborate with each other in a meaningful and supportive way.” ere will be myriad forms of creative writing: narratives, short stories of many genres, poetry and works of visual arts. Fi h- and sixth-graders can submit work for publication. Seventh- and eighth-graders can submit work as well as participate in the work of editing and publishing the magazine.

Several students expressed enthusiasm for the project.

“ e magazine is a time to express yourself and your feelings,” said seventhgrader Cindy Chou, who said she enjoys writing.

Ya e said she wants the magazine to be an outlet where students can push themselves and overcome any doubts about sharing their work.

“A lot of people feel intimidated to publish their work,” Ya e said. “It’s my hope that this opportunity to build a community of writers and artists will encourage students to stretch themselves and take the risk to do it. We all have a story to tell. And when we share our stories, we give courage to others to share theirs, too.”

Seventh-grader Sophia Wang said she hopes students will be inspired by this project.

“I see this going throughout Greenhill to younger kids,” Wang said. “I hope they will look up to our work and think how they would want to do that someday when they are older.” e magazine will provide a platform where Middle School students can stretch and push themselves as authors, writers, artist, and leaders, students said.

“It will be cool if we can have a little bit of everything,” said seventh-grader Arhaan Iyer. “We should make it cohesive because it will work better.” in the lead role of Buddy the Elf.

“I feel like it’s much more organized, because last year we were scrambling to nish,” Menon said. “Mr. Mihalik set a goal to nish Act One before winter break, and we got to that goal. Now we’re almost done with Act Two.”

Eighth-grader Sean Millimet, who is participating in the musical for the rst time, said he’s also enjoyed the rehearsal experience.

“So far, it’s been pretty good,” Millimet said. “Rehearsals are fun.”

In contrast to last year, Martin said that “Seussical Jr.” has received greater participation from Middle School students across all four grades.

“By the time they get to Upper School, we’ve got students who are hooked already and really love doing it,” Martin said. “We’re growing the program, we’re getting students involved earlier, and we’re getting them more experience earlier.”