After last year’s magazine was delayed due to COVID-19, the Voices Magazine staff are working this year to produce two magazines.

The magazine’s head editor, Gianna Somrak, says the staff members were all disappointed upon learning that the magazine would have to be put on hold last year. “We had hope in the beginning that we would be able to return to school in order to finish it, but obviously that didn’t happen,” Somrak said.

Creative writing teacher and Voices Magazine adviser, Kari Beery, admitted that the staff were finally getting momentum on production when the pandemic halted production completely. She said,”I think it’s always a culminating point to have that moment of like this is what we made … so having that removed from the end of our year made me sad.”

Somrak revealed that as head editor, part of her job is to sort through the hundreds of submissions for the magazine. She said, “From there I would also note names and make sure all the grade levels are correct, and see if there are any titles on there.”

The process for other editors includes interacting with the submissions differently. The essay editor, Matthew Curtis, not only reads but also evaluates every submission. He said, “The process is you look at pieces and you judge them on a scale of one to four … four [means] it has everything that you need to deserve a place in the magazine.”

Though the pandemic put the magazine on hold, it had also allowed Beery to learn just how resilient her students can be. She said, “We’re all having great ideas, we’re all contributing to this … the process is ever-changing.”

Somrak confessed that the pandemic had helped her get over her struggles with multi-tasking as well. She said, “I became more skilled in terms of organization just because we’ve had to handle both last year’s magazine and this year’s magazine.”

Making the magazine takes hard work, lots of effort, and dedication from everyone involved, according to Somrak. She said, “It’s essentially like our heart and soul as artists and writers, so I hope people will be more open-minded.”

Beery compared the magazine to a hidden gem, like a secluded vacation spot that everyone should know about. She said, “We’re like a homegrown production. We have one year to do it [and] 85-90% of the students that are doing it are doing it for one year … as a result of that not as many students know about it.”

Curtis admitted that he wanted the magazine to have more submissions for the sake of variety. He said, “I wish more people knew about the magazine, so they can create more different pieces of different qualities and different point of views.”

With both magazines set to release later this spring, Voices Magazine staff have been wrapping up the production process on the 2020 and 2021 issues. Beery said, “We’ll also start an advertising campaign telling students that the books will be ready in May.”