Behind the Scenes of Soundings

Students who always dreamed of getting their work published can finally have the opportunity with Soundings.

The literary magazine, which has been at Saratoga since at least the late ’80s, will be distributed around school on May 21.

“Soundings is basically a platform for students to showcase their works in the literary and artistic fields.” said senior editor Tiffany Tung.

Nearly 70 poems and short stories, along with over 100 photos and hand-drawn art, were sent in by students and even a few teachers. All of the submissions were reviewed by the Soundings staff, a mix of newspaper and yearbook students.

Because there are so many submissions each year, not all can be printed. Photographs and artwork were put on the projector and voted on by the Soundings staff, while the poems and stories were separately reviewed by each staff member.

Tung said, “Google Docs has been crucial in how we choose the written entries. We [the editors] uploaded all the entries on Google Docs (without the name of the author in order to prevent bias), and the Soundings staff vote on each entry. It’s been pretty successful so far.”

Other editors include junior Shannon Galvin and senior Maggie Lin, who coordinated the entire process.

“The hardest part about Soundings is matching a picture with the written submission.” said Lin. “However, the general layout is simple.”

After layout, the editors send it off to the printer, just like the regular newspaper, except in magazine form. When the magazine arrives, it is distributed on May 21.

“What makes Soundings unique is that anyone can submit and all of it is student-produced. Students write poems, take photos, draw the art; then, its students who choose the submissions and do the layout,” said Galvin. “All of Soundings is ‘for students by students’.”