2008 Grant Proposal Details

THAT!: A student publication   North Eugene High-IDEAS

Total: $500

Description:  The proposed project is the development of, THAT!, a literary magazine produced by IDEAS students, for the greater IDEAS and North Eugene High School community. The magazine, which will be produced online and in print, will feature fiction, poetry, editorials, film and book reviews, as well as original art, photography, and other elements of North Eugene High School culture. The envisioned goal is produce eight issues over the course of the academic year.

Why is this important?  The presence of a literary magazine at North Eugene High school will provide for students a creative and expressive outlet, currently absent from the range of activities available.The magazine also provides a window into the IDSEAS @ North Eugene High School culture for parents and the greater community, demonstrating the diverse range of creative talents present among the student body. This will hopefully evolve into a powerful public relations tool for our small school. In addition to drawing in students with prior experience or interest in writing, art, and design, the project will serve as a credit recovery option for students who have yet to experience success in language arts. Credit recovery students will work on improving reading, writing, and editing skills, building up to publishing multiple pieces in later editions of the magazine.

Who will be served?  Currently over twenty students in grades 9-12 have elected to participate in the project in some capacity. An additional ten to fifteen students will join the project for credit recovery purposes. It is our hope that over the course of the school year we will engage even more students either through active participation in the production of the magazine or through submission of original work. The primary distribution of the magazine will be through hard copy publication for local release. The magazine will also be distributed online through the North Eugene High School homepage and will therefore be available to all North Eugene High School students, staff members, and all community members with internet access.

How will this be evaluated?  Success of the project will be evaluated through an online survey, linked from the North Eugene High School homepage, which will aim to tally the number of readers who access our publication, the features that they enjoy most when reading the publication, and overall impressions of our small school developed through interaction with the publication. Success in terms of engaging students will be evaluated based upon the number of students who elect to particpate in the design and prduction process as well as tracking the number of off-staff submissions we receive from the student body. Lastly, students working toward credit recovery will be montiored and assessed in their skill development and progress toward graduation requirements by two licensed English / Language Arts teachers, who will serve as advisors for the project.

Does this build on existing programs?  This propossal builds upon a newly adopted school wide initiative to support and strengthen writing skills across the curriculum. Additionally, the project supports one of our five cross curricular school wide learning outcomes, which is building collaborative skills in the classroom.

Budget:  All funds received will be dedicated to printing costs associated with production of the hard copy of the magazine.

Proposal #:  80