The student news site of Westford Academy

WA Ghostwriter

The student news site of Westford Academy

WA Ghostwriter

The student news site of Westford Academy

WA Ghostwriter

Vining hopes words go beyond expectations

Anastasha Echavarri

Staff Writer

Beyond Words, the club that publishes the school’s official literary magazine remains the unsung hero at Westford Academy. Giving a voice to the students and their many unique and diverse works of art, the group is pushing now more than ever for positive changes for the future concerning the club.

Published once a year, the literary magazine is compiled of several poems, short stories, and even artwork that students around the school have put many long and hard hours into. Spending almost just as many hours in the process, those at Beyond Words will collect and sift through articles and decide whether or not to publish them when the big day comes.

Hannah Vining, president and editor of the magazine voices her opinion on the role the magazine has played in the school community.

“It’s such a good idea to get the work out there. Every year it comes out, everyone tells us how much they love the magazine,” said Vining.

Being the president of the club, Vining has the job of selecting several of the pieces of work that go into the magazine. She also designs the layout and brings everything together by the time the magazine comes out—which should be in a month or so.

Jack Holbrook, temporary supervisor of the club while English teacher Jessica Lang is on maternity leave, offers help wherever he can. However, the club is for the most part solely run by the students.

“I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes… It’s the students’ work—it’s the club’s work and the students of the school’s work that’s getting out there,” said Holbrook.

Each year, the members have tried to change the format in many ways opening up the possibility of fitting more work into the magazine as well as hopefully attracting more attention towards the group.

Beyond Words
Beyond Words at a glance

“We try to get in as many works as possible. We also try to raise money for the magazine—like at Café Night. Students can get up and perform their pieces on stage,” said Vining.

In order to get the students at WA to notice the magazine, Beyond Words is trying their best to draw attention to the club by making the magazine more interesting.

“Usually the magazines have solid colors with the title on the front. This year, however, we’re making fancy lettering and designs—and even adding in a picture on the front to get students to want to look at this,” said Vining.

After asking around school it has been made clear that many are unaware of the magazine’s presence, and hopefully, this will change in years to come.

“What we need the most right now is people, we need more people to be involved,” said Holbrook.

Although the magazine and the group is not as popular as it would like to be at the moment, the work of the students at WA will continue to become published for years to come. Many online publishers scam or try to cheat aspiring artists out their work, copyrighting the ideas that others have originally come up with. Many of us have no idea how to get our work out into the world so as to share it with others. The unsung hero at WA, Beyond Words reminds the school that there are several talented students among us and this club gives these students the voice that they need.

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