Eaglehawk Issues

Do you remember the first time you had a piece of writing published? What a thrill it was?

Waiting for the publication to come out, leafing through the pages in anticipation. Be it an essay in the school newsletter or a letter in the local paper…

Nowadays, writing your own blog can be just as exciting; that moment when you click on “publish” and your story goes live for all and sundry to see.

Even in the era of self-publishing it’s still an exciting prospect to have your words come to life on a screen or a page – to have your voice or ideas, point of view or story read or heard by people you’ve never met. (It’s part of the reason I love this column and to write as a vocation.)

Eaglehawk Secondary College are onto it. 

I remember last year chatting to Bendigo writer Lauren Mitchell – “Loz” as she is known. She mentioned being involved as a mentor in a magazine project there. The students were getting together a colour glossy magazine “due out some time later in the year”.

Issue One of 3556 was duly published in December last year, an A5-sized magazine, so named after Eaglehawk’s post code. As magazines go – let alone student publications – it was a pretty professional affair, complete with advertising (quite a lot for a student publication too! The 3556 ad exec must be a bit of a whiz,) an editorial, good quality photos, readable layout, kids’ pages, interviews, recipes and features. 

The standard of writing wasn’t too bad, with stories focusing on individuals and life in the local community, “just across the bridge”.

With sections such as “Word On The Street” (a street poll about a topical issues conducted with locals), and profiles on “Movers and Shakers”, 3556 wasn’t your average school ‘mag’. 

Not that much was about the students; really this was an exercise in publishing something that would appeal to people across the community. Kind of unusual for a student publication. 

It also broke the stereotypical “kids today” moan (“they’re only interested in themeselves”). 3556 went against the grain.

Come April 2011 and with it Issue Two. This time they’ve gone big – well bigger. Now A4 in size, 3556 still boasts a student editorial team (down from 15 to 12), and 4 mentors, Lauren being one and Eaglehawk Secondary teacher Dan Williams another. (He provides the proud-as-punch editorial!)

A little bit more experimentation has taken place with the layout, the recent Dahlia Arts Festival is a focus and some of the kids have really pushed themselves with their writing. 

Brittany Gunn writes a two-page feature about life in jail called “Time In The Big House”. She details a school excursion to Castlemaine’s Loddon Prison, effectively invoking the five journalistic rules of thumb – how, why, when, where and who. She also includes interviews with three inmates. While it’s not an analytic piece, it’s a brave one; clearly this young woman was willing to step out of her comfort-zone in the name of writing.

Which is possibly the most admirable thing about 3556. The students aren’t only being pushed by their mentors, keen to see them do well as young scribes who maybe one day might just become professional writers, these kids are clearly pushing themselves. 

There’s a real sense of ambition and energy in 3556, born from young people being interested in not just what their mates are saying on Facebook, but in their own community. Nice work.