Maiden School Magazine for Samtse HSS

Samtse Higher Secondary School's bid to produce a publication started with the launch of a bi-annual newsletter in 2006 by former Principal Mr. Kinga Drakpa. The first two issues appeared successfully. However, due to some reasons, it ceased to find its successive issues. Since then, no attempt has been made to produce a new publication for the school.

However, 2013 academic year put an end to that long gap. The school planned a magazine. It was decided to make it annual publication. An editorial team was identified from among teachers. And the works began. It took a year to give it shape. The magazine finally came out and was formally launched on February 2014. 

My words of acknowledgement go to the following people who gave their hands in bringing out the issue. Foremost, I would like to thank the Principal Mr. Namgay for agreeing on the idea of producing the magazine. Secondly, the editorial team for working on the content and taking care of the language mechanics. Ms.Yonten Dema for typing the articles. The Ads team for touring around and collecting advertisements. Mr. Jigme Dorji the person who took up the most challenging task of working on the design and layout of the magazine. It is evident from the magazine that he has meticulously taken care of every small thing in the magazine. Last but not least, students' parents for their financial assistance. And my congratulations are to the students whose articles featured in the issue.

The content of the magazine is a mix of creative writing and report writing mostly from students and few from teachers. The magazine has helped students foster their writing skills. And for those students wishing to hone their skills in writing, the articles in the magazine can be looked at as models.

Since the magazine is an annual production, I would like to make the following comments for bringing out even better issue next year. And I hope the team who worked on it will not mind but take positively.

The Title: The magazine does not have an attractive title. The team may think of a suitable title. Every book in the world has a title. The magazine should also have one, lest it looks incomplete. The current issue has just the name of the school on the cover. And barely noticeable is a phrase 'window to' just above the name of the school. If 'Window to Samtse Higher Secondary School' is meant to be the title of the magazine, I suggest the team to make it more conspicuous and prominent. Give it a better font, size and location on the cover.

Derogatory Picture Captions: I will not pin point some awkward picture captions used but I suggest the team to rethink over some of them. 

Background Pictures: Many articles have the words run over the background pictures. Since the content is done in black and white, the dark pictures have made the words barely visible. I had to strain my eyes to figure out the words. I suggest the team to use lighter background pictures or locate the pictures away from the words.   

Reader Friendly Font: I would suggest a more legible font than the italicized typeface used. Italicized fonts are slanted, cursive and are difficult to read. The kind of font used effects readership. No matter how good an article, if the font does not appeal to readers we lose readership. So, I would suggest a straighter and a common font throughout.

I must reiterate that the above comments are not meant to overshadow the effort that has gone into making the magazine. But the only reason is to bring out even better issue next year. Cheers!