HHS is involved in the creative side of education, and Imprint magazine is a part of this. Imprint, a literary arts publication that combines writing and visual art, has placed first two times on the VHSL state level since 2013, and this week the magazine may have another chance. The 2016 issue of Imprint received 997 out of 1,000 points from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association review panel and earned an All-Columbian status in three categories: writing, art and design. This is a first for the magazine, which is going on its eleventh year of publication. Five students are state finalists in the 2016 awards.

In the visual art division, senior Piper Sattva (“Butterfly Effect”) and HHS alum, Ava Reynolds (“Dear Future Generations”) are finalists. In the writing division, seniors Rachel Snyder (“Mother Tries”) and Zoey Fox (“Szet Esoben”) and junior Martin Beck (“White Noise”) are finalists.

The stories and art chosen by the VHSL judges come from a variety of topics.

“[‘White Noise’] is about a cabbie who sits in his car and reminisces and drinks bottled water.” Beck said.

Senior Piper Sattva, a finalist in the painting division, was chosen for her piece “Butterfly Effect.”

“[‘Butterfly Effect’] is about how the smallest thing, even something as small as crushing a flower in the woods, can affect everything vastly.” Sattva said.

This is Sattva’s first year as an Imprint state finalist.

“It makes me happy that people are still looking at that piece because I didn’t think they would be. I’m just really proud that it’s gotten so far.” Sattva said.

Martin Beck has been a part of Imprint since his freshman year, and this is his second consecutive year as a state finalist; both years he competed in the short fiction division. Last year he was nominated with a short story titled “Pavel’s Unlikely Fortune.”

“I write short fiction because I don’t have the discipline for long fiction,” Beck said.
The junior has been an active member of the English department since he entered high school.

“Freshman year I did Newsstreak, which was interesting in that I’d never really ventured into non-fiction writing, much less journalistic writing, and I got to explore a different side of things. With Imprint, I was exposed to a whole new world of competitive writing that I didn’t know existed.” Beck said.

This comfort with putting his work into the world was helped by his experience in the Fine Arts Academy.

“The showcases definitely provided a forum for introducing people to my work, and that was odd because I never really had anticipated reading my work to an audience, and lo and behold, there I was, up there with a microphone.” Beck said.

Sattva, a fourth-year member of the Fine Arts Academy, describes her experience similarly.

“Throughout middle school I didn’t really take my art seriously, but I was good at it, and I did it to pass the class. My sophomore year of high school, I came to HHS and joined the Fine Arts Academy, and I was like, ‘oh my gosh, this is my life.’ I finally started figuring out who I was and what I was doing. I began developing a style and putting together a portfolio. And I realized this was what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.” Sattva said.

Both artists, along with seniors Zoey Fox and Rachel Snyder, will discover how they placed in the competition on October 6, after school. The judging will be held in Fredericksburg, and Imprint adviser and creative writing teacher Richard Morrell will be present for the results.