Lantern, the student literary magazine, recently published its second edition of the year entitled “Diversity.” 

Lantern is a club at WHHS that offers members a chance to show their creative side by sending in photos, paintings, drawings, poetry, stories, etc. in keeping with a theme generally selected by the club’s advisor, Scott Summers, an English teacher, and the editors of the publication.

After submissions are sent in, club members get together to review submissions, where they provide constructive criticism, compliments, and any thoughts or ideas to assist the writer or artist.

Those who participate in Lantern can take an active role in participating in creative discussions or just listen in.  Anyone from any grade level can join.

Lantern is one of the first clubs to start up in the school year. The club starts in the last week of September and ends in the 1-2 week of June. The club meets once a week on Tuesdays, so in total, we meet about 35-40 times within the school year. 

“I started Lantern in September of freshman year,” says Tay.  “I fell into this club because it is easy, and fun. And it makes you feel comfortable. There is a lot of room to be creative and talk to people that enjoy the same thing as me. I enjoyed becoming an editor and handing out magazines to everyone, including the teachers, and the teachers were amazing and it was an overall amazing experience.”

When it comes to trying to decide on what theme to designate, the publication’s editors including Miriam Goz, Karina Tay, and Sara Gaber, get together to map out and talk about ideas and themes.  They also try to use different words and or phrases that spur any kind of idea or theme. 

After a theme is decided and people start to submit their contributions, editors take care to make sure that at least one submission from each club member is included.  

Once they are finished putting the edition together, the editors make a title that goes with the theme and print it out to make a hard copy. After that is decided, they hand out the editions to the members and anyone else that would like to see what the edition includes.  Due to Covid, the Lantern editions are now online, which is easier to get out to more people.

“The community is my favorite part of Lantern,” says Gaber.  “My only regret is not knowing about this club sooner. I also love that your creativity is safe. No one is judged because of sharing your creativity.”

“I will miss the community,” says Goz. “It’s supportive and everyone is friendly, meeting once a week to talk about people’s works and just have a great time, while still being serious at moments. You don’t have to focus on anything else. It’s a place where we embrace creativity. There are no worries or stress,” concludes Goz.