‘The end is never the end’ for these writers

High school students express their creativity in different ways in the annual literary journal

CEDAR GROVE-BELGIUM’S layout and photo teams for the literary journal “The End is Never the End” produced in Carol Schumacher’s creative writing class included (from left) Kaydence Callahan, Parker Knight, Oliveah Kurth, Gabe Egan, Abbey Callahan and Billie Klemm. Photo by Mitch Maersch

By MITCH MAERSCH

Ozaukee Press staff

A unique class at Cedar Grove-Belgium High School entails plenty of writing and reading but doesn’t have a textbook.

Instead, Carol Schumacher’s senior-level creative writing class creates a literary journal with poems, short stories, personal narratives and photos.

This year’s journal is the third of its kind and is called “The End is Never the End,” the title selected by the class.

Works come from students in the class and across the school. The class formed small groups to handle different duties.

Parker Knight and Gabe Egan were on the photo team and helped garner submissions from fellow students in spring.

“Signs around the school weren’t getting much,” Knight said.

So they went door-to-door to each classroom soliciting photos and created a jingle asking their peers if they ever “wanted to be a published author” during lunch hour and then “screamed” at them. Knight confirmed that did “feel good.”

Oliveah Kurth also worked on the photo team and was one of the editors. She and Egan said everyone got along when deciding what items to include.

The layout team consisted of Billie Klemm and Abbey and Kaydence Callahan. They had to learn the BookWright program to put each page together during their free periods throughout the school day.

They encountered the satisfaction of completion and the frustration with technology.

“Saving the pictures was a headache,” Abbey said, adding they either wouldn’t save or would be pixelated.

But putting together the piece was a plus.

“None of us really edited a magazine before,” Abbey said. “It’s good for a high school class, I think,” Abbey said.

Klemm took the cover photo.

“Me and my mom drove around for three hours taking pictures of open roads,” she said.

Regardless of the work needed to put the journal together, students like the change of pace and nature of work in the semester-long creative writing class.

It was right up Klemm’s alley. She plans to be an author and will attend the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in fall with a focus on creative writing. She has already started four books in a fantasy series.

“It’s such a chill class,” she said. “Writing can be a stress-reliever for me.”

“It’s different than what we normally do at school,” Kaydence said.

“It was spontaneous. That’s what I like about this class,” Abbey said.

Knight, Egan and Kuerth said they loved the leeway Schumacher gave students.

“We have a lot of freedom to write about whatever we want,” Knight said.

Egan said he also enjoyed the time Schumacher allowed students to play chess.

Schumacher said she would provide genres or have students write a short story about a photo. Klemm remembered several brainstorming worksheets.

The class watched poetry readings online and held one too. Schumacher also had students write screenplays, and one of the final projects was for small groups of students to film short movies using their phones.

Schumacher said she hopes to inspire “a love for writing and hopefully reading. If they never read poetry before, hopefully they appreciate it.”

Other students in the class were Alexis Bahr, Rei Boehnlein, Joseph Carrasquillo, Payton Dodson, Hailey Footit, Grace Gauger, Alana Morgan, Braeden Pfaff, Ian Procek, Jesse Schmidt, Skyleigh Schuenemann and Layla Schultz.

 

Poems published in the journal include the “The Beauty of the Night” by Nathan Wester.

 

In the quiet of the night,

When the stars are shining bright,

Thoughts drift like a feather light,

And dreams take flight.

 

The world seems calm and still,

As if time has lost its will,

And all that’s left to fill,

Is the beauty of the chill.

 

So let your worries go,

And let your spirit flow.

Embrace the night’s gentle glow,

And feel your soul aglow.

 

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