Georgia Marshall, an eighth-grader at Marblehead Community Charter Public School (MCCPS), created a magazine to showcase the creativity at her school. Her work was inspired by her mother, Laura Moran, who runs the Refugee Project for Stone Soup Magazine.
Moran works with refugee children living in camps in Kenya and surrounding countries by helping them express themselves with creative artwork and writing.
Named after the school’s mascot symbol, “Compass Magazine” is not only a place for students to showcase their creative work, but also to learn about all the aspects of putting together a magazine.
“My school is a very creative community and I have a lot of friends who are very artistically inclined. They’re always drawing or writing poems and they don’t always have the opportunity to express, to showcase their artwork or writing and I feel like my magazine is a great way for them to do that and I want people you know, people who might not always have the opportunity to express themselves artistically be able to do that and I feel like this magazine is a step towards that, even though it’s just within my school,” said Marshall.
“Because I know there’s a lot of people who are very artistic but they’re not always brave enough to share [their work] with people and just being able to submit to the magazine and even saying that it was made by anonymous. Some people like to do that, at least people are able to do their artwork and writing and I mean, it’s very empowering,” added Marshall.
With about 17 members in the magazine program, students are divided into three groups. The format and layout team focuses on the overall look of the magazine, the editing team decides what goes into it, and the publicity team is in charge of getting the MCCPS community involved.
Marshall acts as the editor-in-chief. She plans on pursuing a career in journalism and, with the guidance of her mother, found the perfect way to showcase her talents.
“I love to write and you know, I love artwork, but I mean, I especially love writing. That’s my passion, and I really want to be a journalist,” said Marshall.
The arts-and-literature-focused magazine is the perfect outlet for an educational institution that aims “to be a school that fosters a community that empowers children to become capable, self-determining, and fully engaged individuals who are critical and creative thinkers” who chart their own course and learning path, according to the MCCPS mission statement.
“My school is a very creative community and focuses on hands-on learning and creativity and I know a lot of friends who are artists and writers, so I wanted to be able to showcase that for my community,” said Marshall.
The 40-page magazine contains poems and artwork from students in the school who submit their work. The content of the front page, which being on is a hallmark of success in the journalism world, is chosen based on the effort students put into their creative pieces.
The magazine releases a winter and spring edition each year. Marshall, on her way to high school, is leaving the magazine in the capable hands of her younger classmates.
“It’s my hope that it continues to grow and that more people become involved in it and more people take leadership,” said Marshall.
With about 150 copies printed, Marshall’s goal is to increase publicity, generate more copies, and work on more advanced software to design the magazine.