This is the first year of publication for the
Palo Alto High School magazine Verde, which is published four times
during the school year, once per quarter. The mission statement
of the magazine is to provide the student and parent community with
in-depth look at what students at the high school are thinking and
doing. Another goal is to write articles about topics of interest
to teenagers. In fulfilling this goal, the magazine runs primarily
features and reviews. The students themselves generate all the ideas
for the articles.
One of the main reasons that I started this magazine
was to provide additional journalistic opportunities for the students
at Palo Alto High School. The newspaper program is so heavily subscribed
that more than 40 students had to be turned away last year. I thought
that by creating another publication I would provide more opportunities
for students to improve their writing, to be in leadership positions,
to learn desktop publishing skills, to learn advertising and business
skills and to be part of the journalistic process. .
Everything, including all the ads, in the magazine
was created by the students. In most cases, the advertisers gave
us the text and some images and we put it together to create the
ads. The students took most of the photos. Some photos of celebrities
were scanned from an original photo.
One of the problems we encountered during the
year was funding for the glossy cover, which actually cost almost
$2,000 alone. So we printed the third edition with a non-glossy
cover, but the final edition was glossy again. We managed to get
enough advertising and raise enough money so that the publication
paid for itself by the end of the year.
