Despite COVID-19, after school activities have started, albeit virtually. One of the activities I’m continuing is the Advocate, the school’s literary magazine (Learning Outcome (LO) 4). Normally, we would take in submissions and physically publish them. Due to the constraints brought by the pandemic, that isn’t possible.

A screenshot of the website (also linked below)

Thus, me and my peers decided to make digital editions of the magazine (LO 5), taking submissions even in lockdown. This was interesting as it involved us learning new skills, particularly in editing and formatting PDFs (LO 2). In order to make these submissions easily accessible, we also decided to design a website (LO 3). The website was made to make new admissions easily visible, as well as give access to previous editions that people might’ve missed (lost the physical copy, joined school late, etc.) Designing the website was a large effort, as it involved finding and cleaning up (formatting) previous editions of the Advocate, finding a good host, and making the website look visually appealing. While the website we designed is still a work in progress, it is now functional and can be used to access previous editions.

osc%20advocate%20cover_edited.jpg

One of the many posters designed by the Advocate team.

In addition to the website, we’ve been making stickers/templates that teachers can use to encourage students to submit works. For example, if an art teacher likes a particular work from a student, they can use said sticker to easily indicate this to the student. Furthermore, the Advocate team has also designed posters that are displayed on the School’s daily bulletin, to further encourage submissions.

In conclusion, while COVID-19 has completely changed the way we operate, the Advocate and other activities haven’t stopped at all, and are in fact progressing.