By Brenda Bolouvi and Christina Wilson
The illuminating blue screen lights and the clacking of keyboards have become the new norm for the dedicated students working on the New Hyde Park Lance and Arena publications.
Yearbook and Arena are some of the most writing-intensive, design-dependent, and thought-provoking clubs at New Hyde Park Memorial. For those who may be unfamiliar with these clubs, Arena curates a yearly literary magazine full of creative artwork, writing and songs from the talented NHP student population. The Lance school yearbook consists of a team of senior high students that works persistently day in and day out to create various spreads, take and collect photos, and design covers for the senior class.
“Yearbook and Arena are some of the most writing-intensive, design-dependent, and thought-provoking clubs at New Hyde Park Memorial...”
To slow down the spread of COVID-19, the Sewanhaka Central High School District shifted to remote learning in the spring, which was difficult for students and staff alike. Initially, the hope for student-run NHP publications in the new school year dwindled. Thankfully, with the efforts of administration, advisers and staff, the student-run publications are running remotely.
In normal years, Arena published the work of talented NHP students in physical magazines. The editorial team utilized professional design websites and tools to make the magazine spreads and pages.
Source by Anna Detke
The Arena staff is diligently working with their adviser, Ms. Mayo, at virtual meetings to start the process for this year.
“Being one of the members of Arena last year, I was astonished how beautiful the works of NHP students truly are. It only saddens me more to know that we won’t be able to do the same thing this year. Even if it’s not a physical book this year, we have been brainstorming and coming up with different virtual ways to still allow NHP students to show their talent,” said sophomore Tessa Cherian, one of Arena's editors.
This year’s theme is “Trapped Yet Free: Uncaged” for the Arena online blog. This new forum will be used to post songs, poems, short writing, choreography, and artistic pieces students created during quarantine.
Yearbook can be deemed as one of the most demanding clubs here at New Hyde Park with or without a pandemic. It requires hours of tedious work to ensure that every memory is documented and the publication is in the best shape to be distributed to both seniors and the community.
“The production process this year looks vastly different and is definitely going much more slowly. Our first deadline with the publisher was pushed back to mid-December when it is usually in October. The editors and I spent much of September and October training the different sections: writing, design, and photography. Actual work on the spreads didn't begin until late October,” said adviser Dr. Yen.
Source by Anna Detke
Photo, design, and copy staff have general meetings in order to discuss spread ideas and to recreate the yearbook experience.
For the first time, NHP will see a whole new take on the yearbook. Since much of the traditional sections such as events and sports have not happened as of now, the staff will be focusing on alternative stories. The biggest challenge this year is adapting to the limitations on photography. Usually, the Lance takes their own pictures in a photojournalistic style. However, most of the photos this year are collected as opposed to taking them, which is done by an app. Lastly, they have switched to their publisher's online software instead of the traditional Adobe InDesign.
“I want the senior class to believe that there will be stuff in the yearbook. We really wanted to highlight the talents of the students honestly, which I think is really unique and great. We may get to learn things about each other we didn't know and can now remember for a very long time,” said senior editor, Gauri Shyamnath.
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