The Pinnacle has made a return to Bernards High School. The school’s art and literary magazine offers opportunities for students to submit their work in all different fields. Students can submit any or all creative endeavors. Everything from photography, poetry, short stories, any type of drawn art, and even jewelry is accepted. Submissions from past years have included makeup design, woodworking pieces, and even fashion.
The Pinnacle is a way to share out-of-the-box art. The last time it was published, it was remarkable as said by Mr. Pair, “We accept almost literally any and everything! So long as it is school appropriate, of course. In the past, we’ve accepted makeup designs, woodworking, fashion, and any other ‘nontraditional’ media. I’ve run short stories, memoirs, poems, and even screenplays in all genres including Sci-Fi, fantasy, and historical fiction.”
On October 4th, the Pinnacle held its first meeting for the year in Mrs. Snyder’s classroom. Mrs. Snyder is once again running the Pinnacle, picking up where she left off after running the magazine from 2010-2015. Ms. Snyder says, “I’m so thrilled to get The Pinnacle up and running again. I love getting to showcase our incredibly creative and talented students!” Snyder takes over from Mr. Pair who led the magazine from 2016-2020– a challenging time for the publication because the world shut down due to COVID-19, and all students were attending school virtually. Submissions did not come by easily.
There was also no way for the staff to market the Pinnacle magazine. Instead, Mr. Pair had to take it into his own hands by asking teachers upfront what students were working on and going to the students themselves and hoping they would submit their work. “Honestly, I mostly begged people to turn stuff in,” said Mr. Pair. “I became something of a talent scout with minions–in the form of teachers and students–all over the school who would tell me what people were working on. At that point, I would find the author/artist/photographer and subtly beg them to let me print their work.”
This year, the staff of the Pinnacle hopes to make it easier for the teachers and the students. The staff is planning to hang posters around the school, send Google forms to English teachers so students can submit their work whenever they want, and work with the art department and the students involved.
One of the most interesting things about the Pinnacle is the process by which it is made. The staff has the freedom to decide which committees they would like to be on. Committees include advertising, finance, editing, layout, contests, and web allow students to choose which field they have the most interest in. The staff collects submitted work online or physically. Then the staff has to go through the work to make sure it is appropriate and has to organize. Then, the staff starts choosing layouts and designs for that edition. This process is done in Adobe InDesign. Once finished it is sent to a print shop where contributors, staff, and those involved will get a copy.
The Pinnacle is an all-around award-winning magazine. Getting published in the Pinnacle is a great way to add to your creative accomplishments. The magazine is typically entered into the American Scholastic Press Association’s yearly contest. And Bernards High School often wins “First Place” and even “First Place with Special Merit.”
