Last year, Olivia Vu – then a freshman at AHS – was struck by a trend she was seeing on Instagram. Students were posting about youth-produced arts magazines that showcased students’ creative writing and visual art.  “It was inspiring to be able to read other youth work,” says Olivia, who has just finished her sophomore year. “And I knew we had nothing like that at our school.”

 

The 15-year-old found an advisor in multimedia art teacher Andrea Szeto, set up a school club, researched best practices for formatting and publishing art journals, solicited contributions, and, as founder and editor-in-chief, put together the first two issues of the illuminate literary arts magazine.

 

The magazine’s mission is to provide a “a platform devoted to empowering student voices through the publication of youth-based literature and art.” The theme of the first issue was “depths,” and of the second issue was “thrive.” Both issues featured the prose, poetry, and art of AHS students in full color pages formatted using Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop, which Olivia learned about in Ms. Szeto's Multimedia Art class.

 

This year, Olivia expanded on the idea. She partnered with her advisor, Andrea Szeto, to find art and creative writing teachers at other local schools (including Encinal High School, ASTI, Saint Joseph de Notre Dame High School, and College Preparatory school in Oakland). Working with the teachers and social media, Olivia and her team found students who could serve as representatives to the magazine and recruit students to submit art and writing samples. In the end students (and some staff) submitted more than 70 art and writing pieces to the Spring 2025 issue, the theme of which is “transcend.”  

 

Vu, who works on everything from soliciting contributions to the actual layout of the magazine, is modest about her contributions. “It’s a great way for me to use my creativity since I’m not taking art in high school,” she says. But she notes the project has also helped her build her collaboration skills and find efficient ways to create publicity for a project via posters, emails, social media, and the AHS newscast.

"Olivia came to me with this wonderful vision to share and publicize the creative work of Alameda High students,” Ms. Szeto says. "I was touched by how much she appreciated and valued artistic endeavors.  Through hard work and planning Olivia and the club put out a fantastic first issue.  Then another - and soon Olivia and the club had to revise their ambitions for the magazine! I'm so proud of what they have accomplished and am very much looking forward to what they do next!”