HELM releases first ever digital issue school-wide

HELM+club%2C+along+with+Andrew+Tierno+%2812%29%2C+head+of+Programming+Club%2C+designed+this+front+page+for+their+first+online+magazine%2C+which+displays+artwork+by+Katrina+Liu+%2810%29.+The+editors+and+club+members+beta-tested+the+digital+issue+last+week+before+its+unveiling.

Courtesy of HELM

HELM club, along with Andrew Tierno (12), head of Programming Club, designed this front page for their first online magazine, which displays artwork by Katrina Liu (10). The editors and club members beta-tested the digital issue last week before its unveiling.

by Anika Rajamani, Reporter

Harker’s Eclectic Literary Magazine (HELM) Club unveiled its first unthemed, digital issue comprised of written pieces, artwork and multimedia on Friday.

The website was shown to club members on Tuesday at a club meeting during long lunch. After refining the website and adding the final touches, HELM published the magazine to non-club members. HELM undertook this project along with their regular print magazine.

HELM is an annual magazine that accepts submissions from upper school students who wish to contribute. The club accepts written pieces such as poetry and short stories, as well as photography, paintings and drawings.

The idea to publish online was introduced in the summer as the club leadership prepared this year’s initiatives and was taken forward in first semester. They received a majority of their submissions in September when they opened up their contest.

By November, the editor team had gathered ideas and pieces from their club members and had laid out a design for the website. Since then, the head of Programming Club, Andrew Tierno (12), has helped HELM form the website and get it ready for publishing.

For their print magazines, HELM editors hold club-wide meetings and discuss what pieces they would like to publish in their magazine, but the online publication used a different selection process.

“We curated the submissions by ourselves because we thought that since this was the first issue, we would do it as an editorial board, instead of bringing the rest of the club,” junior co-editor Emily Chen (11) said.

However, they plan to include other club members in this process in the future. Andrew Rule (12), one of two editors-in-chief, focused on the publicity aspect of this project. He helped draft messages to be delivered at school meetings and worked with the English department to spread the word. Andrew also helped with design and submitted two pieces of his own for the online publication.

“I felt mostly gratitude to Andrew Tierno. The ball has been in his court throughout the whole six-week design process, and I really can’t overstate how important his contribution was to making the issue a reality,” Andrew said.

The website was made public to non-club members, after the club added some more pieces to their magazine.

HELM’s website can be viewed here.

This piece was originally published in the pages of The Winged Post on January 24, 2017.