Editor-in-Cheif, Juwan Wilfong, created the entire layout and design of the 2013 HHS magazine, The Hickory Leaves: Becoming. Our other officers for the year were Sarah Keener, President; Kegan Wilkinson, Vice-President; Blake Unger, Secretary; and Jake Roberts and Larkin Schramm, Public Relations. Sophia Clyburn designed the cover, and Susie Wold, the inside cover. Additional active members that year were Ben Davidson, Lucas Eyanson, Austin Hamilton, Desiree Hollifield, Kyle Murdock, and Olivia Pruitt.
Although the club did not publish a magazine in 2011, the group doubled their efforts to produce the longest, most designed offering ever in 2012. Lovingly called a "double issue," The Hickory Leaves: Cream & Cola, Rum & Wine contained spectacular photography by Russian exchange student Artem "Artie" Kazakov, exquisite layout and design by Editor Rachel Morford, and a brilliant cover by Seulbin Han and Clara Williams. Other leaders and club members include Hannah Alms, Lance Dagenhardt, Saba Kahn, Josh Lariscy, Audrey Palombo, Alex Arditti, M. K. Bethea, Jenna Geltman, Anna Gonzalez, Brenham Hughes, Emma Hatfield, Brenna Moore, Alex Myers, Willy Sauer, and Forrest Sigmon.
2010's Literary Club worked specifically with art teacher Tamara Verbiest to select wonderful pieces of student art for the magazine. As a result, The Hickory Leaves: Echoes contained more original student artwork and photography than the Leaves ever had before. Editor Devon Lail headed layout and design with section dividers dedicated to different emotions. Rebecca Dellinger created the gorgeous cover artwork combining drawings, poetry, and three-dimensional objects. Other staff that year were Mia Madduri, Assistant Editor; Nicole Henderson and Rebecca Dellinger, Art Directors; Sarah Keener, Assistant Art Director; Kala Phillips, Secretary; and Czech exchange student Adam Stepanek, Fundraising Czar.
Marking the final volume edited by Emily Myers, The Hickory Leaves: Under Construction (2009) contained one of the tightest integrated themes throughout its pages. Hickory High had been going through "reconstructive surgery" for three years at that point, having entire halls blocked off for renovations to walls, lighting, floors, and heating/AC units. Emily designed the clever cover and thematic divider segues between sections of this all-color magazine. Assisting Emily in editorial work were Devon Lail and Kayla Phillips. Other staff included Elizabeth Abernathy, Rebecca Dellinger, and Nicole Henderson in Art Direction; Hannah Grace and Nathan Myers in Multimedia Coordination; Mikhale Sherrill as Secretary; Kim Hardy as Fundraising Guru, and Catherine Mewborn as Public Relations. Additional club members who made a difference that year were Hunter Coffey, Gabriella Eley, Mary Herfurth, Joey Marcille, Jaun Picado, and Ryan Richardson. That year, we hosted a reception to announce the publication of the magazine, and Mr. Wes Barkley, a local attorney and published novelist, spoke to the students about writing.
Emily Myers edited the 2008 edition of The Hickory Leaves called Chaos Theory. Several important firsts happened with this volume: the students used Microsoft Publisher instead of PageMaker, uploaded .pdf versions of pages to Lulu.com for publishing, opted for a 6x9 chapbook style (which we have continued to use since), and produced an all-color book: excitement abound! The brilliant collage cover was produced by Hannah Grace and the art team: Elizabeth Abernathy, Alaina Braswell, Nathan Myers, and Mikhale Sherrill. Officers that year were Emily Myers, Editor-in-Chief; Elizabeth Abernathy, Art Director; Hannah Grace, Assistant Art Director; and Nick Beeson, Treasurer. Other active members were Josephine Facio, Kim Hardy, Kayla Huffman, Jennifer Igel, Morgan Jones, Catherine Mewborn, Dustin Williams, and Stephen Wright.
Marking the rival of the Hickory High School Literary Magazine, The Hickory Leaves: Voices Evolve appeared in 2007 to much hurrah! Active literary club members that year included Managing Editor Emily Meyers and other Editors Elizabeth Abernathy, Josephine Facio, Morgan Jones, Catherine Mewborn, and Jess Olma. Other members included Katie Alms, Savannah Bell, Sean Curl, Samantha Hoang, Jennifer Igel, Sam Jones, Nathan Myers, Jessica Stewart, and Dustin Williams. Of note, this magazine was our first color-covered entry (created by Elizabeth Abernathy) and the longest book yet (at 58 pages). That year, we hosted a reception to announce the publication of the magazine, and Mr. Tim Meyers, published novelist, spoke to the students about writing. (There are no electronic versions available.)
Published in 1999, The Hickory Leaves: Interpretation of a Dream was advised by Janice Greer. I left Hickory High in 1998 and returned in 2005. Interpretation was to be the final published magazine from Hickory High for seven years. Dana Pope edited the magazine with help from assistant editors Erica Arthur, Erica Pope, and Sabra Shelly. (This magazine is unfortunately only in print, and there are no more for sale. Perhaps in the future we will digitize the magazine for consumption online!)
The second published magazine published by the newly reinstated literary club was called The Hickory Leaves: As Yet Untitled (1998) and revealed a notable improvement in technology. Instead of using the literal "cut and paste" method and a print shop, students used the Adobe PageMaker software that I taught in yearbook class when I was the advisor. The Executive Staff that year were Amanda Dobbins (editor), Ashley Sue Allen, Erica Arthur, Will Freeman, Brandon Liles, Danna Pope, and Sabra Shelly. Ethan Freedlund crafted the cover art, and contributing writers included the executive staff and many others. (This magazine is unfortunately only in print, and there are no more for sale. Perhaps in the future we will digitize the magazine for consumption online!)
The first literary magazine published at Hickory High since the 1980s, The Hickory Leaves: Menagerie, arrived in 1995 and featured photography from T.C. Morphis; student writing from Greta Mosely, Alicia Lutz, Monie Smith, Margaret Harrison, Kelly Vanderburg, Kristen Walton, Tini Chapman, Jayson Hamer, T.C. Morphis, Robert Swanson, and Mica Sorkin-Rockstein; and faculty writing from Gina Ward, Ron Kickasola, Mary Ann Hand, and Chris Rice. At that time, the administration building had a print shop for creating materials the school system needed. We worked tireless and tedious hours with Mike at the print shop getting the ghost imaging of the photography just right. Without his help, we would have remained unpublished that year. (This magazine is unfortunately only in print, and there are no more for sale. Perhaps in the future we will digitize the magazine for consumption online!)