One Student tells her story

As a new student at Pacific Crest, I was bewildered and confused. The strange atmosphere and diverse students baffled me. I looked at the totem pole in the front, and table in the “Billiard Room” and wondered at what kind of strange planet I had come to. School meeting astounded me, and the part that students play in the school seemed incredibly overwhelming.

Several weeks in though, I started to settle down into the comfortable chaotic ebb and flow of the school. I was sitting in school meeting when my ears caught the conclusion of an announcement. I had of course let my mind drift away, but those tempting words had brought me back again: “Literary Magazine”. Of course I had to become a part of it. Just the very phrase “Literary Magazine” intrigued me, and before I knew it, I was plunged up to my eyebrows in work, eventually becoming the one and only editor of the “zine”.

I struggled with bake-sales and posters, uncooperative businesses and depleted resources. Frustrated at the doors that had been slammed in my face, I allowed the school to see my agitation, and before I knew it, my one-woman team had become a large group of dedicated helpers. With their help I pulled through, and after spending four hours at Copy Max, I arrived at school, triumphantly flailing my finished mag in front of the noses of all my classmates.

Though it was covered with typos, and not all the copying had come out right, my fellow comrades applauded my efforts. Here I am in the second semester of my first year at this school, and I am chief editor in our own Lit Mag!

This school is an incredible place for achieving goals I never thought possible. Just the very idea of arranging, correcting, proofreading, publishing and funding a magazine seemed impossible to me last year, but here I am with that very thing accomplished. This school makes it possible for such things to happen.

This school is for students who are self-motivated, willing to go as far as they can to reach their goals. Romie, a senior here is creating a cave out of plaster for the hallway. Tuck, along with several other students are helping to arrange assemblies in high schools and middle schools to spread the news about the protest at Eagle Creek. Things like this are possible in a school like this.

All that someone needs to do to start a project like mine is to stand up in school meeting and announce it. Then you start to work, with the full support of your peers. This school is not for everyone, but it encourages students to take risks with new ideas. Individual accomplishments seem to flourish here. Students teach classes and plan protests, go to the Humane Society, or publish magazines. Whatever you are willing to try, this school is willing to accept it.

—Lizzy D.