Passing on the torch

I participate in the school's literary magazine, Spectrum.

I started off as merely a club member in Spectrum my sophomore year, writing poetry that made it into the newspaper spectrum page and the yearly magazine. Yet, junior year, I came to Stephanie Blotner (the Editor in Chief of Spectrum then) with the idea of incorporating artwork with the monthly newspaper and literary magazine. From this idea, the position of Design Editor was created. As Design Editor, I would design and create artwork for the page spread in "The Day Times" and also the literary magazine. It was the perfect blend of my strengths in english and the visual arts.

The magazine that I worked on last year earned 1st place in American Scholastic Press Association, a proud achievement as I had spent many long hours designing the cover of the magazine and placing pictures within the magazine.



However, as a senior, I cannot stay and be the Design Editor forever. I've chosen Puja Nair, a current sophomore to be the next Design Editor. Next year, as a junior, she will take on the responsibilities that I have carried the past two years. Because Puja lacks the necessary skills (such as working in photoshop and InDesign, both crucial programs as a Design Editor), for the next issue, I will have Puja work with me on the newspread, teaching and preparing her for her role next year.

Logan Elementary

December 16th, a group of our IB students ventured over to Logan Elementary. This school-sponsored annual trip is meant to be a chance for students to help underprivileged students through a few hours of fun. Last year, our IB group had gone to Logan, making foam cup Snowmen with 4th and 5th graders. Our persistance in visiting Logan will hopefully continue in later years after we've graduated.

However, this year we got younger students (1st and 2nd grade) and remembering the many difficulties involved with foam-cup snowmen, we decided to make a simpler project: popsicle stick snowflakes. Each student got a choice of pink, green, or purple popsicle sticks, which they could then decorate with sequins and glitter to their heart's desire.

As we helped the elementary students decorate their popsicle-stick snowflakes with glitter and sequins, we talked to them, asking them what gift they’d like from Santa this year or what their favorite class was. The experience was both fulfilling and fun. We all laughed when Xavier chased me down and “stickered” me, placing stickers all over my back and forehead. I, of course, responded by stickering him right back.

At Logan Elementary, the IB students in the group that studied Spanish tried to communicate with the second grade children, all fluently speaking rapid Spanish, their first language. As we stumbled around forming words, they giggled at our attempts, correcting our grammar and vocabulary.This experience taught us one of our possible areas of growth. Although we could communicate our rough ideas with the students, our Spanish was severely lacking. The most successful of our group, though, were those that weren't afraid to stumble on the grammar and instead, put themselves out there and took a risk. Although the students laughed, the experience led to a greater understanding of my area for growth. I can't be so scared of messing up all the time, especially in areas that need growth. I need to work hard at it, risking a few errors here or there.

Ultimately, my experience at Logan Elementary was fulfilling. We not only brightened the kids’ day with popsicle sticks and glitter, but I also realized that despite the languages that we spoke, we all want to simply laugh and have fun sometimes.