Using their creativity and writing skills, juniors in Mrs. Laura Penrod’s English 11 classes are creating personal magazines based on the book “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald. 

“Mr. Moore did a similar project years ago, and I always liked the idea of students creating an editorial,” Penrod said. “My first love was public relations, and this project combines elements of English and the world of public relations and marketing.”

Groups consist of three to five members, and each student will individually write three articles for their group’s magazine. Students have been creating obituaries, editorials, advertisements and society pages.

“I want the [students] to learn how to think about topics from their perspectives versus mine or others,” Penrod said. “The ability to ‘report’ on events from the novel, characters and events from the period allows them to be thinkers on the topic from their vantage points versus anyone else.”

Along with the writing portion, students must be able to create a design that follows the theme and style from the 1920s. Students will have the chance to peer edit and review one another’s projects towards the end of the month.

“I love to see the design elements and how creative students can be regarding the 20s and the novel ‘The Great Gatsby’,” Penrod said. “It is always fun to also see how students see the characters and events that happened in the novel and I am excited to see the end products.”

At the end of the project, the produced literary magazines will be displayed in the classroom and presented by each of the groups. The project will extend from now until Tuesday, April 9.

“I like this project; it’s something different and not something that you do in other classes,” junior Maya Negash said. “It’s cool because we get to make it our own in a way. Using designs and pictures of our choice spices up the project.”