The right place to write

New and returning clubs allow humanities-loving students to flourish

After pandemic stagnation, Nueva humanities students are ready to fight— and write—to revamp student clubs and publications.

Last year, when Milo K. ’24 realized that the Creative Writing Club was gone, due to the club losing traction during the pandemic and the previous leaders graduating, he decided to restart it.

“I love the process of it and the community creative writing often fosters,” Milo said. “I thought that by [re]founding Creative Writing Club, I could provide resources that I didn't have in my first two years here.”

Creative Writing Club is co-led by Milo and Aaron H. ’24. During their weekly meetings, students discuss creative pieces and spend time on their own writing. The club also sends out a weekly newsletter with writing prompts, creative pieces, and places where students can submit work to contests.

Sebastian J. ’25 had a similar experience with restarting LitMag, a student-run literary journal that publishes student artwork and literature. Looking for an opportunity to share his love of writing,

Sebastian learned that LitMag used to exist but had gone silent due to the pandemic and leadership transitions. He worked with English teachers Amber Carpenter and Jennifer Neubauer to revive it.

“It essentially was like starting a new club, because I had to register it and everything,” Sebastian said.

Despite these setbacks, LitMag has taken off this semester; the club now has 10 active members. The group ran a workshop at the Humanities Fair, and is on track to release their 2023 issue at the end of this year.

“[Litmag gives] student artists an opportunity to share their art [that’s] collaborative and feels like it’s meant for other people to be seen,” LitMag co-lead Grace C. ’25 said.

Like Litmag, Romanesco, a student-led scholarly journal, has also blossomed postpandemic.

During the pandemic, the journal “was centered around efficiency,” said WRC director Jen Paull, who is the faculty advisor of Romanesco, along with math teacher Ted Theodosopoulos.

At first, most of the work on the journal was completed asynchronously. Now, weekly in-person editorial meetings give students dedicated time to work on the journal together.

“[In-person meetings spark] a wonderful sense of connection between [all of] us,” Paull said. “You feel that overflow of curiosity and interest.”

Noor Z. ’24, who co-leads Romanesco with Hailey F. ’24, appreciates the time for in-person collaboration.

“We’re trying to create a greater sense of community,” Noor said.

In addition to returning clubs developing post-pandemic, new humanities-oriented clubs are springing up as well. Poetry Reading Club, led by Hailey and advised by English teacher Sarah Muszynski, just started this year. The club members meet once a week to read and discuss poetry.

“I saw a lack of humanities-related clubs, especially regarding poetry,” Hailey said. “I wanted to do something that didn’t [involve writing], that was more about reading poetry and learning about new poets. It just sounded fun.”

The Acedian Review, a poetry journal led by Lachlan C. '24, Hailey, and Milo that just started this semester, is yet another place for students to share their work.

"The idea of the review came from reading poetry over February break, when I thought it would be exciting to try and start a poetry review at Nueva," Lachlan said. "I want to see poetry expand and evolve."

Reflecting on the wide variety of humanities opportunities at Nueva, Milo emphasized that humanities and STEM are not mutually exclusive.

“Nueva's humanities program has really expanded [in my time at the school]," Milo said. "This dichotomy between STEM and humanities isn't necessarily a fair one— Nueva's excellent at providing both.”