Bethel High School’s three publications are off to a fresh new start in the 2018-2019 school year. Ursa Major, the school yearbook, Polaris, the literary magazine, and Bear Facts, the school newspaper each have new sponsors and advisers overseeing the student publications. This year the teachers’ goals are to pique the interest and participation of the student population.

Yearbook adviser Lauren Emory has very high expectations for the student staff she was given this year and believes they will meet them. However, Emory finds that her biggest obstacle is expanding student interest in the yearbook. As a solution to this problem, the price of the yearbook was lowered to $50 if ordered before January 15 and $55 if ordered before April 15. The former cost of the yearbook was $70. For all yearbooks ordered before April 15, the purchaser will receive a personalized yearbook with their name and picture on the cover at no extra cost.  Yearbooks can be purchased at https://ybpay.lifetouch.com/Order/SelectJob using ID code 13605719. 

Latasha Drax is the school newspaper adviser and sponsor of the literary magazine Polaris along with co-sponsor Brandy Sidlo. This year Bear Facts will be an online publication to make the newspaper more accessible and more interactive than the print version. It is the first high school in Hampton to produce a digital newspaper.

Drax justifies the shift from print to online by saying, “We’re in the 21st century and this is the way of the world these days. It was just better for Bethel High School to transition and line up with the rest of society who have online publications.”

 Sidlo, who also teaches Creative Writing, hopes students in her class can be key contributors to the literary magazine. “Everybody deserves to have an outlet for their creative talent. We all have something to share, and if we have the confidence and gumption to share it with the world, I would hope there would be people willing to appreciate it with us.”

Polaris features shorts stories, poetry, photography, artwork, and more that comes directly from the students at Bethel High School. Polaris is now accepting submissions of poetry, prose, photography, or art that relate to the theme of “Euphoria.”

“Often times, school focuses so much on critical thinking that we don’t get a chance to develop our creative thinking, and without creative thinking, there’d be no innovation or progress in the world,” said Sidlo. 

Anyone interested can submit their work to [email protected] or drop submissions off in room 401 or room 206.