Paris high school students publish first literary and arts journal

'The Pen's Palette' pays homage to its future content of prose and visual art.

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PARIS — Students at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School and Oxford Hills Technical School have released the debut issue of “The Pen’s Palette,” a literary journal.

The intention is to publish “The Pen’s Palette” annually, combining poetry, fiction and essay writing with photography and illustration. Students and school staff have contributed to its inaugural run.

“The Pen’s Palette” is a collaboration between Shelley Léger and Kate McCarthy, English/Language Arts instructors of the tech and high schools, respectively. The two teachers attended an Ecology School climate educators’ conference together at River Bend Farm in Saco last summer.

While the core focus for participants was on science curriculum, McCarthy and Léger brought their professional spin, developing a plan to promote ecology through literature and art.

Léger, who teaches college writing, ethics and public speaking, said she went to McCarthy with the idea.

“We decided we wanted to do something ‘across the aisle,’” she said.

“There is a larger presence to our journal,” Léger added. “I had wanted to start one but I couldn’t think of a way to appropriately sell the idea to leadership, as it’s not part of the regular curriculum.”

Their administrators approved the plan as an after-school project. They submitted their proposal with a mini-grant request to the Maine Environmental Education Association and received $1,000 to fund the journal.

“We put out feelers and got a great response from students,” Léger said.

“And we knew we didn’t want a journal that was photocopied and stapled together,” she said. “That’s not very exciting when you’ve worked as hard as we have.”

The first issue of “The Pen’s Palette,” Oxford Hills’ new student-produced literary journal. Submitted photo

Developing the journal was a group effort that began from scratch. After a brainstorming session that generated at least 50 prospective titles, the student board chose the name “The Pen’s Palette,” an homage to its future content of prose and visual art.

The editorial staff for the first issue is Dakota Bodman, Darian Bodman, Tyler Jordan, Heidi Lopez, Jenaya MacFeat, Arrow Perkins, Lilith Todd-Gearhart and Rae Travers.

“Each student was given creative ownership of one page in the journal to design,” Léger said. “We looked through other high school and college literary journals for inspiration and ideas. Everyone had a specific role, and everyone knocked it out of the park.

“Dakota has been our artist in residence. Chris Davis wanted to be more on the branding side of things, so he designed our logo,” she said.

Soleil Brooks designed the front cover, incorporating her own mountain scene. Dakota Bodman provided visual art throughout as accompaniment to literary submissions.

Because the theme of the “The Pen’s Palette” is nature-based, the editorial board decided to include a forward dedicated to the Wabanaki and appreciation for their native culture, penned by Rae Travers.

Printing services were provided by Grass Roots Graphics in Oxford.

According to Léger, there are enough mini-grant funds left to print the second issue of “The Pen’s Palette” and help propel a third into production.

“Each member of the editorial board and each contributor has received a complimentary copy,” she said. “And remaining copies are on sale for $5 each until it sells out.”

“The Pen’s Palette” can also be accessed for free at https://tinyurl.com/9he8bhz9.