Youth Magazine Club
AMHS’s own magazine created by youth, for youth.
When you think about Academic Magnet, your mind goes to hours of homework after school, chemistry labs, thesis ROLs, and studying for AP exams. Something that frequently gets overlooked though are the creative opportunities that are found at Magnet also through classes and clubs. An emerging leader for creativity here has been Youth Magazine, a club pitched as “a platform for the daring” whose purpose is to allow students to have a break from Magnet stress and focus on writing, art, and other forms of creativity.
Although it’s only in its second year, the club has already accomplished a lot. In their inaugural year, they created a 2 minute long campaign film as well as a 48 page publication with photos, drawings, and pieces of writing from Magnet students. Most importantly though, the club founder, Evelyn Bi, accomplished her biggest goal which was to “create a safe space for students who want to develop and find encouragement for their ideas, interests, and projects.”
Looking ahead to the second issue, there will be a mix of new and returning elements to the publication. Some of the repeat favorites include the exchange student interviews, aesthetics moodboards, and another Charleston Fashion Week article. For issue 2, you can expect to find an interview with some of the fashion majors from School of the Arts, poetry, articles about the modeling industry, as well as pieces of writing about movies or tv shows. Personally, Evelyn, is interested in working on contributions that you can’t just talk about casually or that are difficult to express conceptually.These include topics like “the Eames’ films Tops or Powers of Ten, a streamlined pencil sharper, and Raf Simons’ 2002 collection slogan.” So be on the look out for some newbies and some much loved pieces in issue two.
Another aspect to both issues is the use of photography to communicate a certain message. Evelyn and Kennedy Bennett worked with two SOA fashion majors, Sasha and Nadja, on a photoshoot for the upcoming issue. Evelyn said her reasoning behind having such rich and exquisite images lining the pages in the publication is because “photographs establish a sense of intimacy between the subject and the reader that words cannot.”
With an entire year behind them, Evelyn said that the biggest thing she learned throughout the entire process has been that having a flexible publication meant that she can reduce a lot of the stress throughout the whole process. Ultimately, the structure and content in the magazine is what the team decides they want to share with the community so there was a lot of creativity in the whole process.
Overall, youth magazine strives to create a safe community for young artists and writers to pursue what they love. Although Magnet may be more STEM based, that doesn’t mean that you can’t be interested or talented in an artistic field as well! YMAG is a model and example for other who want to start their own clubs too. Evelyn said that she doubted if this club could even come together at Magnet, but now it is flourishing. This club serves as encouragement to pursue and develop creative ideas and interact with others who have similar interests.
Don’t forget that it’s never too late to participate in Youth Magazine even though it’s second semester! If you have creative content that you want to share with others, contact Evelyn Bi or Kennedy Bennett for more information about becoming involved during second semester!
Above is the campaign film that was made last year, and below are some sample pages from the first issue so you can get a feel for the aesthetic and type of content that goes into the publication!
