The Creative Writing class has begun to create the literary magazine, VOICES, and are learning to handle submissions in their new genre groups.

Student genre groups, headed by one or two students editors, are tasked with many responsibilities in creating the magazine. Work has recently begun to advertise and bring in magazine submissions, which are sent through a judging process. English teacher Kari Berry, the Creative Writing teacher, said, “When we call for submissions, we basically bring those in and then we have to judge those.”

Beery says the judging process is important to keep organized as to make sure details, such as names, dates and grades, of submissions remain intact in order to provide credit to the correct artists. She said, “All those fine details are so important because not only is it a risk to share something but when you are honored, the last thing you want to do is have someone screw up your name or overlook something that is an incredibly powerful moment for you.”

When handling submissions for the magazine, editors are responsible for designing an organization system that is functional for their assigned groups. The groups then work amongst one another to decide which submissions will make it into the magazine.

Senior Elizabeth Corpus, student editor of the poetry genre, uses a binder to keep submitted poems separate and tidy. She said, “ I have a binder and it’s kind of sorted with poems that need to be discussed because the grading is too close and ones that are rejected, ones that need to be graded, ones that have been printed and ones that are graded.”

The poetry and micro fiction groups have completed about 30-40% of their work in submissions. However, the microfiction group has been working more slowly than usual. Senior Krista Rice, student editor of microfiction, said, “I feel like we’re going kind of slow with the microfiction section, but it’s not because of our work. It’s just because of the lack of submissions which I haven’t checked recently, but I’ve probably gotten a couple in the past couple days.”

Other than submissions, there are many other tasks that must be completed in order to publish the magazine. “We have to do proofreading, layout and then there comes smaller roles like making sure the magazine is assembled and printed correctly… [The editors] also have to learn a new in design program in Adobe InDesign and they will learn how to format the entire magazine,” said Beery.

Corpus believes having these responsibilities help her to feel more mature. She said, “I love having the responsibility. I don’t know, it makes me feel really, not old, but it makes me feel older and independent in a sense.”

Rice enjoys the process due to the amount of organization that must be upheld. “I really like it because I like to be organized and just having a responsibility to keep organized is really fun to me, even though I’m not organized in my general life, but you know schoolwise,” she said.

Beery believes the process of working together to make the final magazine is an important lesson in teamwork and patience. She said, “If we all kind of follow our clockwork and listen to each other and do our small roles, we create this really big finished product together. It’s a lesson in taking things in small digestible chunks and working day by day and then seeing the fruits of our labor which will be eternalized forever.”