The Dial had the opportunity for an exclusive interview with the staff on The Vision, Hackley’s literary magazine, about their plans for next year. Here are their responses.

Q: How successful was The Vision this year?

A: In the beginning of the year the members of The Vision (aka “Visionaries”) set forth to expand our social media campaign with one common goal in mind: to excite and inspire students through student-produced art and literature. We began this endeavor by creating a Vision Facebook page meant to increase student interest in The Vision and to ignite a sense of creativity amongst members of the Hackley Community who may have not submitted otherwise. The Vision facebook page also included interviews with Hackley faculty about their favorite writing styles and writing tips to share with the community. We also continued sharing past and present student produced art to The Vision Instagram page (@thevision__) to share with Hackley students. These two campaigns not only helped to unite the Hackley Community and increase awareness about the incredible students produced art/literature but also culminated in The Vision literary magazine — distributed to students the week of May 26th. Ultimately, The Vision was quite successful this year and the staff looks forward to welcoming our new members next year as well as continuing to excite and inspire the Hackley Community.

Q: Is The Vision doing anything new/different next year?

A: Next year, members of The Vision hope to continue broadening our social media campaign.  We’d love to see more interviews with artists regarding their work, poetry readings, musical performances and other ways in which students can show their creative energy. We will continue to reevaluate the publication timeline so that Hackley students have more access to The Vision and more time to engage in the publication. We also hope to expand the type of content to include more non-fiction and more forms of artwork. We encourage all students in grades 9-12 to submit their work.

Q: Are there new student leaders on The Vision team for the upcoming year?  If so, who?

A: Each year, top editorial positions go to people who have shown through ongoing dedication and performance that they are qualified to lead the publication.  Gabriela Zak and Alex Gluckman, who both joined The Vision in the 10th grade, have shown great leadership this year as Junior Editors, and will serve as Editors-in-Chief next year.

Zach Shalett, Lindsay Schechter, Dominique Meneses and Caterina Moran, who joined the staff as juniors, will be  Senior Editors, and Josephine Sasso, who joined as a 10th grader, will be Junior Editor.  In addition, we are very excited to announce the new “Visionaries” for the 2015-2016 school year: Jack Hjerpe, Christina Wang, Samhitha Josyula and Izzy Sellon.

Q: In general, is there anything that you would want to let Hackley students know in this article?

A: This year’s Vision is dedicated to the idea of inclusive, respectful community and open sharing of ideas.  We feel this theme is important this year, in the wake of Ferguson, Staten Island, Baltimore and elsewhere. While art and literature may not, alone, solve the problems these events represent, we believe art represents an important opportunity to “find voice” and share perspectives — much as we have done this year in the “Air and Share” events.

We hope to leverage the The Vision going forward to be an increasingly strong force for community gathering and expression.  We hope it will pursue the goal of Hackley’s mission statement — to “challenge students to grow in character” and to “learn from the varying perspectives and backgrounds” of others.  The Vision strives to be an inclusive literary magazine and hopes to reach all corners of the Hackley Community. We want to make sure that all students have the opportunity to voice themselves in the magazine and online in exciting and stimulating ways. Next year, we hope to include even more students in The Vision and hope members of the community enjoy The Vision 2015 and are excited for The Vision 2016!!

Just as the Hackley community is made up of many perspectives, The Vision captures many points of view, many voices, and many ways of looking at the world. We hope all will join us in celebrating Hackley’s “vision”!