Jun 20, 20209 min read

From The Beginning

Edha's POV

Back in December, I was announced Magazine Editor, and truth be told I hated it. I didn't want it so much that despite going up on stage during the announcement, that very same day I emailed my class teacher saying I don't want it. I made up a long list of excuses, but let's be real. It was because Magazine Editors have never got any respect. It's the position you get when you lose Captaincy, and I wasn't even nominated for the rest of the posts, so I was super confused. I marched up all the way to the Principal's office claiming I didn't want it. Sir being sir straight up said no. There was no room for debate and sir would have an unbeatable opponent in debate anyway. So with a sulking face and a lot of ‘its okays’ from my seniors, I finally accepted that this was reality.

Now after this my plan was to sulk some more, but back in October itself, I had wanted to revive The Gazette( the old Greenwood High newspaper). So my friend Trisha( yes a big shout out to your Ruby House Captain) convinced me that now with my position I could do it easily. And that's where the planning began. I wanted to not just pick up where The Gazette left off but start somewhere new and fresh, a newspaper the school would actually be proud of. I started collecting my editors. Arohi had always been my best friend and call it some sort of bias but I just knew that with her writing skills and the amount of motivation she provided to start this initiative she had to be my editor. As we started throwing around ideas in 11C, because come on, commerce class, we’re free half the time, Pragya kept coming up to me. This was all still tentative and in my head. Her push made me put it on paper and I realised she had to be the other editor. That's how I found my co-founders.

Slowly, but surely I started scoping the grade for writers, designers, photographers, logistics, comic sketch artists and anyone who could add value to the team. Each team member added was so excited and loved what they would be responsible for. Knowing I had a team which not only had expertise in their area but was so encouraging and supportive for the whole initiative made me approach Principal sir. We would spend our free periods drawing sketches, on torn sheets of our notebook, of the outline and figuring out different columns and features we wanted.

In fact, I remember we made a list of over 50 names and the whole class spent 2 periods voting on it. The winner was Greenwood Hi! ( Shoutout to Siddhanth Reddy), which as you know, we obviously didn't pick. The credit for our name- The Green Pages goes to Arshiya Khattar, who’s currently a designer for TGP.

We spent many libraries planning and some even in Aashima ma'am's( Counsellor) room with white sheets of paper scribbled all over. Between classes also we would stand outside and jot down ideas by the railings. At that time it was meant to be a print copy with 4 sides and after clearing the cost and printing we were all set to get the first copy out in the second week of March. I don't know how many of you remember but 12th March was the last day of our school( a half-day to pick books) and was also the day the first issue got printed. So we started off on a bad foot because we didn't even get to distribute the first issue.

A month later I realised why don't we launch this online? And that's when a lot of innovation happened. From making the website to coming up with new interesting features and even simple stuff like writers realising they don't have a word limit anymore was such an exciting time. It had a lot of ups and downs with a bunch of things we were confused about or straight up messed up, but all in all, we got the first issue out on 1st May. The student body had been so supportive even before the issue launch and then we were stunned by the response on the first issue itself. But there were a lot of people who told us that this would not work out. That students would not be interested beyond the launch and that I should not raise my hopes. They apparently would only be interested if they can vandalise newspapers, like previously. But that's not what happened.

Over the month we saw an overall increase in viewership and interest. New team members were welcomed and some even left us. We also went from being an ISC initiative to a general Greenwood High magazine. We got 4 IB students on our team and also went on to open Vox Populi to students from other schools. The Green Pages now has no relation to me being ISC Magazine Editor or any of the councils. It has no direct link to the school administration either. It's simply an online magazine run by a bunch of 30 kids. It serves its purpose of providing engagement to students and an opportunity for them to express themselves, to even non-GWH readers.

Every issue has been a roller coaster ride with something new and exciting coming up. Each day offers a chance for me to explore and push my creative limits. Writing, reading and editing have always been my passions. From good old Wattpad days to publishing small poetry and articles, writing has been the one thing that's constant in my life. This magazine gave me an opportunity to build something worthwhile out of that, something every writer craves, and that keeps me moving. The will to provide better then last time keeps me moving. The messages that pour in from our readers on a daily basis, keeps me moving. We want to leave a mark, a legacy, something new that each issue offers for all its readers. And that's what moves me.

Arohi's POV

If you know me, you know I'm a good mix of planning and impromptu. I usually have my little notebook of things to do but I can also completely steer away and say yes to something I have no idea how to go about with. Why? Because it was a great idea.

This was just a few days after the elections. I had started making a list of things I wanted to do as School Captain. Edha and I briefly talked about how we don’t have a Greenwoodhigh newsletter a few months back but that’s where the conversation ended.

Aside from all the crazy first ideas, another thing the Council definitely wanted to do was change the perception of the Magazine Editor and Cultural Secretary. I was ready to help them with all their plans and make sure they get the same amount of respect as other Council Members. So when our Magazine Editor, Edha Singh came to me with torn sheets of paper with boundaries indicating columns and names of people she thought would want to be a part of a newsletter run by Greenwood High students, I knew we would have to make it happen.

I wanted to be an editor. We went around and talked to Arnav (Current Affairs writer), Sriram (Sports) and Anubhav (Economics) They were in. Our plans got more solid. Pragya had some amazing innovative ideas and made sure we were all serious about it. The team got more solid. We got our third editor. Apart from writing columns, Edha, Pragya and I would take all important decisions together.

The next few days went like this- Edha and Pragya would give me all the drawings and notes they wrote on paper during their free periods and I would sit during my free periods trying to decipher them. All libraries and joint free periods were spent on this. 11-C made a list of names, which honestly did nothing but make me laugh and Trisha, the Ruby house Captain and I joined in and made even dumber ones. We spoke to Marlene ma’am, talked to the English teachers and with each passing day, it was more than just an idea.

Finally, we took it to D'mello Sir. The first time was just pitching the idea to him- Sir was supportive. Next time we went well planned and prepared for any questions and the last time was just for the final selection of the name and how we would go about with the printing. D’mello Sir didn’t even think twice before saying yes to most of the things we needed. He picked ‘The Green Pages’ and we were ready to start working on it. We were set to launch our first issue on March 12th but we never got to distribute them. We came to school just till 12pm to collect our books and I was sick so I couldn't even come for that.

Fast forward to the end of April. There was no one more disappointed than me about the uncertainty of school opening because of the Corona situation. All the plans, all the events felt too far fetched to even think about. I didn’t know how anything could make up for that, But then Edha called me. She asked me what I thought about making the Green Pages an online newsletter. This one took a lot of thinking and introspection but it was the only way we could still continue it. We were determined to give it our best, and we did.

The Green Pages has now launched 7 issues. We have a team of 31 people including some of the most talented designers and writers I’ve ever met. Reading all the articles before and after each issue is launched with a cup of coffee in my balcony is one of my favourite things to do. We’ve had our fair share of stressful evenings before each launch and also some minor disagreements but I’m so glad we decided to go online. We’re the first batch to have done this. I don’t know when school is going to start or what events I can plan once this gets over, but we will continue to launch a new issue fortnightly-with the same amount of dedication we had for the first one.

As the ex-school captain and a close friend, Neel Mulay has told me- “Do something no one’s ever done before, that’s how you’ll be remembered for your tenure.” We’ve already started with the first.

Pragya’s POV

When I was in 10th grade, “The Greenwood Gazette” was started by the seniors. I was probably one of the only ones who liked the two-page newsletter and it was a shame to see it being used as crushed up paper balls around class. It was always a thought at the back of my mind to start a paper for the school that people would actually read and as a senior, I finally got the chance.

Although I somewhat had a vision of starting a school paper, I never really figured out the crux of it. Writing was not something I was very much into but through 11th grade, I realized the importance of it and more than that providing a platform where the school could find out about current affairs(let’s be honest a lot of students do not read the news), school news such as classmates’ achievements and even other exciting things like games, comic sketches, etc was my main aim as someone who likes to be in the know. This vision has now expanded into a 24 member team with much more than just current affairs and school news. Well, it all started by scribbling down a few ideas and names on a piece of paper.

Edha had been in my class in 11th yet we never really spoke to each other too much, but when it came to finding someone who might have the same vision as me she was the only one I could think of. She happened to be sitting next to me one day and I brought up starting a newspaper. We thought of columns, a brief format, and some people that we would like to add to the team. Over the next few days, this discussion continued and the three editors were decided on- me, Edha, and Arohi. We spoke to the principal and even consulted Aashima Ma’am, the school college guidance counselor, for help and advice. Ma’am guided us throughout the planning process and even let us use her office as a meeting space.

On 9th March, we had our first print issue ready. It was indeed an achievement but unfortunately never made it to print. Around mid-April, we decided that when school would open was uncertain due to the virus situation, and thus we should start it online! This decision opened up numerous opportunities for us- there was no longer a word limit for writers, we could include multimedia, we could expand to as many columns as we wanted with no restriction on the amount of content. On May 1st, we launched the first issue.

To date, we are continuously launching issue, fortnightly now, and it has been an amazing journey! I would not change any misunderstanding or any other moment of it(I know this is cheesy but it is true). TGP has become something I like to work on as a stress buster. Constantly sending edits to the design team, getting excited whenever we get encouraging messages from teachers and students, and brainstorming theme ideas and pictures-these are some small things that I’ll always smile upon when I look back at it.

This has been our effort of providing students with wide-ranging content and we have been figuring out how to better ourselves for the readers each issue. The learning from this experience will always be something close to me; I have learned how to work a team and instruct them better, I have learned more about promotion and marketing strategies, and most importantly I have learned that as a leader you sometimes have to fill in others’ shoes and that’s okay.