Our failed attempt at creating the new hashtag for a drone shot. Definitely a learning experience!
From the Editor, Amy Reiss When looking at this issue’s cover, you may notice how evenly spaced each square is; how perfectly aligned the words “This is Home” are spelled out. That’s because it’s Photoshopped. You can see the real attempt on the back cover. The story of the hashtag reveal, #THISISHOME, is important to share here because it also inspired the theme of this issue. In addition to being editor of Cannon Magazine, my role includes social media and marketing. I had already been thinking about introducing a new hashtag to join our well-loved #YOUBELONGHERE mantra, and I kept coming back to the idea that simply calling Cannon a community didn’t do this place justice. It’s more like a family. A home. And suddenly—a hashtag. #THISISHOME Our Homecoming celebration was a few weeks away, which I thought would be the perfect time to announce the new hashtag—in style. I enlisted the help of Mrs. Ellen Loflin, Upper School Media Arts Teacher, and we set about creating an art file of the hashtag, divided into sixty-five squares, and printed it onto canvas using her large-scale printer. After numbering, marking, and laying each square on the stadium steps, we were ready for “the big reveal,” during the Homecoming pep rally. What ensued could only be described as chaos. We had not taken into account the lack of rigidity of the squares, combined with how students could best “match up” to create the correct letters. Plus, the day was really hot. And frankly, it was just never going to work, despite my desperate pleas for the Upper Schoolers to “Hold it taut! TAUT!” I left the scene feeling like a failure, but I was quickly greeted by a lot of kind feedback. “Don’t worry about it, Mrs. Reiss,” the kids and faculty said. “It makes for a good story.” And I realized—it did. Because in a place that feels like a home, surrounded by people who feel like family, we can make mistakes, laugh, learn, and move on. That day became the inspiration for this entire issue, so we are telling stories of how Cannon is home—a place to learn, grow, and thrive. A place that is a home.
Amy Reiss Amy Reiss Editor
In the the first week of January, our Upper School students engaged in Winterm, a weeklong experiential learning program that engages students outside of the traditional classroom and provides exposure to the world beyond Cannon. This year, our juniors learned professional skills and explored career opportunities. Skylar Couture, Ainsley Edmiston, and Aubrey Haas all spent a week shadowing Mrs. Amy Reiss, Associate Director of Marketing and Communications. In addition to creating social media posts and a marketing video, the three interns also did some writing for this publication. Read on to learn more about faculty members who make Cannon feel like home to them, as well as some personal reflections.
Special thanks to Sarah Leonard ’23, who was supposed to partake in the Winterm, but was not able to attend at the last minute. That didn’t stop her writing her own personal reflection of why #THISISHOME!
