Mount Pleasant Magazine July/August 2017

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feature
Staff members Savannah Godolphin, Laurel Campagna and Nicholas
Dillman review designs for The Outlet.
Eliot. The other students embraced the concept, dividing
the journal into four sections: the white rose for purity;
the red rose for romance; the purple rose for grief; and the
black rose for evil. While the concept and sections helped
organize a vision for the journal, the students agreed that
it didn’t limit their fellow students who wanted to submit.
In fact, choosing work was harder than ever this year, and
submissions were numerous and of good quality.
“This year we accepted nonfiction and songs,” pointed
out Adelle Lacy, a member of the design team. “But since
we had a surplus, we had to be selective.”
So what does the timeline look like for The Outlet? It
starts with fundraising efforts to pay for the journal. This
past year, for example, the students put together a poetry
slam, which they held at the Black Box Theatre, charging
$2 for participation. It was well-attended, they said – and
the inclusion of musicians at the slam is likely what led to
songs and other diversity in this year’s journal.
Besides fundraising, marketing the opportunity to
submit to the writers and artists along the hallways of
Wando is important. Armed with a deadline of Dec. 30,
2016, the staff of The Outlet set about sharing the rules
and regulations for getting published. Then came the fun
part of diving into the resulting pile of work – larger than
usual, thanks to the efforts of the “B Team,” responsible
for fundraising and public relations.
But as the kids pointed out, it’s difficult to pare down
such a pile of greatness. Barron noted that the group wasn’t
sure, at first, how many they would be able to accept.
“We divided stacks into green, red and yellow,” Barron
explained. “Red for no, green for definitely and yellow for
the wait list.”
Eventually, though, they found the accepted pieces
and sent out congratulatory emails to the artists. A bit of
a scramble followed during the few weeks prior to sending
The Outlet to the printer. But it was an organized scramble,
one where no student felt overwhelmed or unimportant.
“I think the work done by the design team was split
up beautifully,” mused Lacy. “Each section (the different
roses) was taken over by a different person. No one was
overloaded, and it was a group effort.”
Finally, one blissful Friday in May, brand-new copies
of The Outlet arrived in a brown box at the doorstep of
Wando High School. The efforts of not only the staff
but of each hardworking artist had come to fruition.
And, hopefully, those efforts will be recognized again
this coming fall, at the South Carolina Student Press
Association Awards, an annual competition culminating
with a ceremony in Columbia. The Outlet has earned
second and third tier honors there for the last few years.
Of course, the students are all hoping for first place
honors this year. And after leafing through the most
recent issue of The Outlet, I share their optimism.
Photo by Layne Barron.
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