2019 January 02 – The Plaid Line

By: Vivian S

Did you know that Highland has its own literary magazine? The Prizm Literary Magazine is coming back! There was a small meeting on December 18th, 2018, with a few people expressing their interest in the Prizm and setting a time for the first meeting, which was tentatively set for January 8th.

According to Ms. Nancy, the Prizm is a literary and arts magazine created for and by the students. The Prizm editors are student volunteers. They will be seeking out submissions from fellow students. When it is put together and printed, the editors will make it available for sale.

Anyone can submit a piece for the magazine. Right now, there is no word or page count. The group is planning to decide on these details at the first meeting. After the first meeting, submissions will begin to be accepted. You can put your submissions in the boxes that are in every English teacher’s room, or you can submit them to highlandparkprizm2020@gmail.com

The Prizm will accept stories, poems, personal essays, paintings, drawings, photos, and photos of artwork such as sculptures.

Ms. Nancy, the advisor, chose to be in charge of this club after Dr. Tucker asked her to consider it. She thought that it would be a fun experience. She hopes that there will be many submissions, that the magazine will look good on college applications, and that it will help people get to know one another better.

Remember to watch out for prompts and themes the club is planning to send out to get your creative juices flowing!

Get to know: New assistant principal and long-time social studies teacher

Image taken from: https://www.spps.org/domain/2668

This year, Highland Park has a new assistant principal for grades 11th and 12th. This is Abdisalam Adam’s first year as being an assistant principal. Before becoming an assistant principal, Mr. Adam was an administrative intern. He was also an ELL teacher for over twenty years.

I asked Mr. Adam what he found to be easiest about his job as an assistant principal. What he found to be easy is being able to meet people of different backgrounds. There are many students, staffs, and families from diverse backgrounds, and with his love of getting to know different languages and cultures, he finds it easiest to connect with people. Mr. Adam says that he feels like the whole world is here.

I also asked him what he found to be the hardest part of being an assistant principal. Mr. Adam says the most difficult part of his job is that so many things are happening all at the same time, to which he has to constantly be ready for action at any time.

What Mr. Adam enjoys the most, is being able to greet students and staff in the morning as they start the day.

Out of school, Mr. Adam likes to volunteer for organizations to help people in need.

Image taken from: https://www.spps.org/domain/2668

Along with Mr. Adam, I also interviewed David Zeitchick, or commonly known as Mr. Z. Mr. Z has been teaching for 20 years. He first started out as an aid, and continued for 7 years before becoming a teacher.

Mr. Z says he does not recall why he started teaching or how he got into it, it sort of just happened.

Mr. Z teaches Sociology, African American Studies, Current Events, and US Government.

He’s been at Highland for the last 22 years, making him the second longest serving teacher here.

Outside of school, Mr. Z enjoys coaching, hanging out with his dog, working out, and just doing anything with his family.