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Middle School Literary Magazine Earns Honors for Third Year Running
For the third year running, Sanford’s middle school literary magazine Meta4 has achieved a rating of “Excellent” from the National Council of Teachers of English’s Program to Recognize Excellence in Student Literary Magazines (PRESLM).
Meta4 was one of only two magazines to be recognized in the entire state of Delaware.
Four of the five student editors are current Sanford freshmen: Lily Allingham, Elizabeth Vander Laan, Shelby Ward, and Lily Wiesnegger. Longtime Sanford English teacher Christine Yasik, who is now retired, served as faculty editor last year.
According to the NCTE, PRESLM “recognizes students, teachers, and schools for producing excellent literary magazines. The program’s mission is to encourage all schools to develop literary magazines and seek excellence in writing and school-wide participation in production.” The program also provides an incentive for schools to improve their existing literary magazines and to start new programs. The magazines are evaluated in middle school, junior high, and high school categories.
Meta4 was launched in 2010 under the direction of Christine Yasik, who saw her former students enjoying their participation in the Upper School magazine, Inscape, and wondered why the middle school didn’t offer a similar club. The inaugural group of eight students chose the name Meta4, Christine explained, both as a play on the word “metaphor” and as a way to highlight the participation of all four middle school grades, 5–8. The current faculty advisor is middle school English instructor Max Schneider.
Each year, the club has sold issues of Meta4 for a dollar and donated the proceeds to a charity, often one that the Sanford community had focused on throughout the school year. Over the past four years, Meta4 has raised more than $600 for Parkinson’s research, the American Red Cross, the Susan G. Komen foundation for breast cancer research, and the National Brain Tumor Research Foundation.
The publication typically includes between 25 and 35 pieces drawn from students in the entire middle school. “I tried to use the club as a platform to encourage student writing in a variety of genres, as well as photography, and artwork,” Christine explained. Student editors received considerable autonomy in leadership matters such as setting submission guidelines and due dates, working with English and language arts teachers at each grade level, and determining the final layout and design of the magazine.
“I loved working with the eager young writers, photographers and designers,” Christine said. “While each issue was similar, every publication represents the unique talents and creativity of its staff. The positive energy, collaboration, and teamwork required to produce a magazine of which they can all be proud remained a constant from year to year. The plaque from the NCTE makes official what I and the Sanford faculty and administration have always known about our students' commitment to excellence.”
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Four of the five student editors are current Sanford freshmen: Lily Allingham, Elizabeth Vander Laan, Shelby Ward, and Lily Wiesnegger. Longtime Sanford English teacher Christine Yasik, who is now retired, served as faculty editor last year.
According to the NCTE, PRESLM “recognizes students, teachers, and schools for producing excellent literary magazines. The program’s mission is to encourage all schools to develop literary magazines and seek excellence in writing and school-wide participation in production.” The program also provides an incentive for schools to improve their existing literary magazines and to start new programs. The magazines are evaluated in middle school, junior high, and high school categories.
Meta4 was launched in 2010 under the direction of Christine Yasik, who saw her former students enjoying their participation in the Upper School magazine, Inscape, and wondered why the middle school didn’t offer a similar club. The inaugural group of eight students chose the name Meta4, Christine explained, both as a play on the word “metaphor” and as a way to highlight the participation of all four middle school grades, 5–8. The current faculty advisor is middle school English instructor Max Schneider.
Each year, the club has sold issues of Meta4 for a dollar and donated the proceeds to a charity, often one that the Sanford community had focused on throughout the school year. Over the past four years, Meta4 has raised more than $600 for Parkinson’s research, the American Red Cross, the Susan G. Komen foundation for breast cancer research, and the National Brain Tumor Research Foundation.
The publication typically includes between 25 and 35 pieces drawn from students in the entire middle school. “I tried to use the club as a platform to encourage student writing in a variety of genres, as well as photography, and artwork,” Christine explained. Student editors received considerable autonomy in leadership matters such as setting submission guidelines and due dates, working with English and language arts teachers at each grade level, and determining the final layout and design of the magazine.
“I loved working with the eager young writers, photographers and designers,” Christine said. “While each issue was similar, every publication represents the unique talents and creativity of its staff. The positive energy, collaboration, and teamwork required to produce a magazine of which they can all be proud remained a constant from year to year. The plaque from the NCTE makes official what I and the Sanford faculty and administration have always known about our students' commitment to excellence.”
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