Early this year, Mrs. Brumbach, Mr. Coonan, and a rag tag group of students scrambled to get a poster up for the club fair, hoping to revive an old McCaskey magazine to its full potential. With nothing more than an idea of what they wanted, they tackled the task of creating a literary and art magazine from scratch. In a few days, Fig Industries and Burning Glass will be circulating 300 copies of their magazine around school, graduation, and downtown businesses. 

Burning Glass has received an overwhelming amount of support and submissions that left editors with the job of selecting and refining the best group of representatives to be published. The pieces that will be in the magazine tell a story of struggle, fear, and overcoming obstacles. Burning Glass has become a reflection of McCaskey individual’s journeys through high school during covid. 

In all honesty, becoming Editor in Chief of Burning Glass felt like tripping and falling onto my face, right where I belonged, but nothing came easy. Simply trying to create a meeting date suitable for twelve kids seemed to wear us down, but we all learned to endure and continue. 

For every success celebrated there were days of work, emails, Zoom meetings with Fig, and Remind messages at eight PM. Self-doubt was a theme that haunted my year. Confusion and frustration made me wonder if I was doing enough. The writing submissions reflected my own struggle, and that reminded me why I was doing it in the first place. Being entrusted with someone’s vulnerability and talent reignited my passion everytime burnout threatened to creep up.

However, there was never a single doubt about this being the most gratifying learning experience of my life. You might have had a class where you give your all and gotten a B+ or even an A, but you leave feeling unfulfilled. The Literary Magazine was able to provide me experience working in a production with Fig, a professional magazine.

We had the unique opportunity of being able to absorb the information and experience of the staff at Fig. Special thanks to Jason, Ken, Kaylee, Lisa, and everyone else involved for being patient and supportive of our countless questions. In April, a group of editors traveled to Fig headquarters to see the culmination of our work. The sense of camaraderie among my peers when we saw the final product was a feeling I’ll never forget. 

Burning Glass is something all those involved will be proud to be associated with.

Throughout the process, editors and staff focused on the creation of a platform to amplify the voices of McCaskey students. Next year, our small club will have the opportunity of being a creative writing/magazine production class, taught by our very own Mrs. Brumbach. There will still be a club available for those who are interested. 

The Burning Glass staff and advisors are genuine people who have so much wisdom and talent with an eagerness to share all that they have to anyone who is willing to listen. The magazine has just finished up on the printer and will be available for purchase the last week and a half of school and during graduation. I look forward to showcasing the final product to our community.