During the summer, Earthwinds, Prep’s award-winning literary magazine, was able to go to press with their newest edition. During the remote fourth term of the 2019-2020 school year, the staff finished their magazine, and they were able to send it off to the printer.

The staff was unable to distribute last year’s edition through the traditional Earthwinds Coffeehouse, which is an event during the school day that includes music, the handing out of the magazine, and refreshments. It was supposed to occur at the end of last year. Also, they were set back on their work since they had to go remote and work from home, so they had to push their publication date. 

Ainsley Sinclair, part of the Class of 2020 and the editor-in-chief of the magazine, said that they “worked remotely for the last quarter, finishing the magazine from our personal computers.” After making the finishing touches on the magazine, Ainsley sent all of the files to Dr. Paul Smith, the sponsor of the magazine, who then forwarded them to the publisher. They were also able to visit the publisher during the summer and see where their magazine was being printed. There were only a few in-class members of the staff, and they were all given the opportunity to visit the publisher. 

This year, the publication hopes that they will be able to have their Coffeehouse towards the end of the year. This special event celebrates their work and is a great opportunity to distribute the magazine, but this will be dependent on the COVID restrictions at that time. 

This year, Dr. Smith has been able to distribute last year’s issue by giving it to students during their English class. He would love the opportunity to be able to distribute the edition this year through the Coffeehouse since it is the biggest event for Earthwinds. Dr. Smith said that “This was the first time in the eighteen years I have been the sponsor of Earthwinds that we haven’t had a coffeehouse.” A large part of last year’s staff were seniors, and all of last year’s staff already has their copy of the magazine.

The Jackson Prep yearbook, Précis, has also had to adapt due to COVID-19. It usually gets passed out during August. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, many pages could not be written, and the yearbook took longer to finish than in years past. Précis staff members attended class virtually via Zoom and worked on the yearbook layout from home. Over the summer, staff members came to the school in small groups to finish the yearbook. 

The staff creatively reworked some of the pages they were unable to complete. Some of the new ideas the Précis staff came up with include Zoom meetings, online school, and virtual prom. Staff member Havens Smith stated, “We are much more prepared for if we have to go online this year. We have back up plans in case we are unable to complete any of the pages this year.” 

At press time, the staff expected the yearbook to be delivered in time for distribution in coming weeks, according to Ms. Anna Griffin, the Précis sponsor.