Friday, October 23, 2009

Noble High Students produce
Award Winning Literary Magazine


By Barbara Leech
Staff Columnist
NORTH BERWICK—
Nobel High School students are gearing up to create, organize and publish this year’s edition of Knight Vision, the school’s award winning literary arts magazine. According to Sarah Hall, Junior English teacher and faculty advisor for the magazine, this is the second year that Knight Vision production, once an after school club activity, is offered as a .5 credit elective course for students Grade 9 through12.
“Last year was the first time Knight Vision was a class and we got a great response from the students,” Hall said. “It is such an overall group effort and really gets students involved in the critiquing and creative process. It was offered both semesters so we produced two editions and won an award of excellence for our work.”
Hall said it was the second year in a row for Knight Vision to win the excellence award in the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) contest for student literary magazines. The annual contest’s mission is to encourage all schools to develop literary magazines, seeking excellence in writing and school-wide participation in production. Hall said that Nobel High students in all grades submitted work that encompassed several different genres. She is hopeful this year’s course, offered spring semester only, will be equally rewarding for the students involved.
“We print about 50 pages in our magazine and it has everything from drawings to photography to poems to written music…it really represents the creativity at this school,” Hall said. “And the selection of work, the layout, the advertising that is sold….it is all done by the students. It is amazing to see it come together.”
Tiffany Currier, 16, was part of last year’s award winning production staff and has enrolled in this year’s Knight Vision course, which begins in January. The North Berwick teen said she chose the course because it appealed to her love of writing and art and magazines in general.
“It was a good match for me,” she said. “I am very glad I did it. It was a fun way to learn and create something at the same time.”
Currier said she is looking forward to the production work, the reading and selection process and may offer her own writing skills to the effort this year.
“I think I have been inspired to maybe submit something,” Currier said. “I love writing and I find that reading memoirs is the most interesting. So I think that may be what I try for. We will see.”
According to Hall, Knight Vision was created several years ago by members of the Nobel High faculty. She began working as its advisor three years ago, and says that last year’s staff consisted of about nine students but she is hoping a few more join the team by enrolling in the course.
“There is a ‘drop-add’ period so there is still time for students to decide to take part in this course,” Hall said. “I think all students that do walk away with more knowledge about what goes into creating a literary arts magazine, editing, design, their own ability to critique work and a sense of pride in the final product.”
Photo caption: Junior Tiffany Currier, North Berwick, is ready to begin production work on the next Knight Vision, an award winning literary arts magazine at Nobel High School. (Courtesy photo)