As I enter my second year on the Élan staff, I’m both proud of what we’ve accomplished so far and eager to see what we have the chance to do this year. Élan has given me the chance to work with my classmates to make a real impact. I love writing a lot, but it can be a very insular practice. It’s easy to forget about your writing community. As a staff member, however, I am always surrounded by fellow student writers. I get the chance to read new writing from talented students. I’m able to help plan events which showcase writing and art from young people.

These things help my writing immensely—I’m always inspired by reading submissions—but they also help me as a person. Working with my fellow staff members has really shown me how much we can accomplish together. Last year, we put on a homecoming dance and Coffeehouse, an event in the fall where student perform original works of writing and other artistic forms. We also put on a beautiful gallery in Yellow House, a local venue, and featured a lot of important voices. At the beginning of last year, I never would’ve expected to be a part of any of those things, but Élan gave me opportunities I didn’t even know I wanted.

This year, as a senior, I’m excited to work with and guide the juniors as they discover what Élan has to offer. Everyone has fresh and interesting ideas, and I know that Élan is going to grow a lot in the upcoming year. I’m excited to train my junior counterpart and share ideas about what we want the book to look like and be. It’s always exciting to get a new pair of eyes.

Although I’m not exactly sure what I want to do when I grow older, I know that the skills I’m gaining on the Élan staff are going to help me. Aside from the technical skills I’ve gained as Layout and Design Editor, I’ve also learned so much about how much goes on behind the scenes of a publication like this. In my first few years of high school, I read literary magazines, but before being on the staff of one I never could’ve guessed how much effort went into the creation/ There are a lot of elements that have to be tied together to come out with a cohesive product. I’m leaning towards working somewhere in the publishing or media industries, so it’s been amazing to have an experience like this in high school.

Many of my skills from Élan will help me no matter where I go in life. I’ve learned how to work with a variety of different people to accomplish a common goal. I’ve learned how to manage and plan large events. I’ve learned how to keep an eye out for exceptional art and writing, wherever it may be. While I am graduating this year, Élan will always be important to me.

–Meredith Abdelnour, Senior Layout and Design Editor

This is my first year on the Élan staff, and I have a confession: when I first came to DA, I had no idea what Élan was. When I cracked the spine on my first copy of Élan, I remember only flipping through to a few of the pieces. I would later comb through the book cover to cover to look at each excerpt, poem, or art piece, but when I first opened the book, I didn’t really know what the significance of it was. In all honesty, I had never been exposed to literary magazines before DA, much less submitted to one.

As I became immersed in the culture of DA, surrounded by likeminded writers, I gradually learned what an honor it was to have one’s work selected for a literary magazine. It took me a few months to fully digest my first issue of Élan. The next issue took me a few weeks. The most recent issue, I consumed in a few days. Each time I flipped the page, I was transported to a new emotional landscape, a new world of grief and supreme joy, love and heartbreak, ideas familiar and alien.

I submitted my own work, and was thrilled to receive confirmation. I had never considered my pieces as worth being shared with the world, and Élan showed me that all those hours looking at a blank word document was worth it.

I wanted to learn how the book was made. More than that, I wanted to watch it happen. I wanted to see everything that went into it: the students who submitted to it, the students who fastened it together, the art that bound it all together. If possible, I even wanted to see the paper being inked and printed, the cover being laminated, the pages being stitched into a perfect-bound book the size of a lunchbox.

As junior year came around and I was given the opportunity to be involved in creating the book, I knew I wanted in.

This year, I am so happy to be the junior managing editor of Élan. I’ll be in the thick of it all, my fingers in many pies, so to speak. I can’t say I’m not a little intimidated. With the fear, however, comes a bubbly excitement. I want to leave my mark on Élan. I want to bring new voices from around the world to the page, voices that might not have any other outlet. I know I can’t do this alone, which is why I am similarly excited to be on a team of individuals with immense creative and organizational power.

Even so early into my role, I can feel that the state of the book is not the only thing that will change this year. I’m more than a little out of my element; frankly, I’ve never taken a leadership position of such scale before. I don’t see myself as a leader, but I’m willing to rise to the challenge. I am ready to oil the machine, to get dirty, to learn. Going into this year, I was not the same person as I was sophomore year, and the image of myself as a freshman awkwardly sitting at the corner of the class is unrecognizable. This experience will force me to grow as a writer, as a student, and most of all, as a person. I’m ready.

– Noland Blain, Junior Managing Editor