The Ivy Voice Legacy Continues

From a Time When The Ivy Voice Was Just a Seedling

Interview Conducted by Avriel Das, Year 10, Plenty Campus

Avriel Das: For those who don’t know you well, can you tell us a bit about yourselves?

Harriet Thorpe: I’m a Year 12 IB student who has had great experiences dipping into many of the different activities that the School over the past 5 and a bit years and one of my aspirations is to share these experiences or prospects with the student body. Fun fact about me: I own 7 pairs of jeans, all different shades. I love the day -to-day interactions and mini-conversations I have with people around the School. If you see me around the School, say hi, I am always up for a chat :) 

Emilie McKenna: I’m also a Year 12 IB student, Harriet and I have been good friends for quite a while now so it seemed perfect for us to work on The Ivy Voice together. Like Harriet, I have tried to involve myself in every co-curricular activity thrown my way, meeting lots of awesome students along the way!!

AD: What inspired you to start The Ivy Voice?

EM: I always noticed that there would be teachers reporting on each term through the parent newsletter, with some student contributions but there was never a way for students to share what they have been doing, so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to amplify the student voice. While it originally started as an answer to the much asked question in the IB, ‘what will you do for your CAS project?’ it very quickly turned into a project that Harriet and I were passionate about, completely forgetting the fact that we were doing it for the IB.

HT: Something that I admire about Ivanhoe is how there is a place for everyone with the myriad of activities to offer from sport to academic, musical and service and when Emilie came to me with the idea, my mind was ecstatic at the idea of a place to express the brilliant minds of our students flaunting the School’s opportunities plus also a safe place for people to publish their opinions and words of encouragement, particular shout out to our second publication on Global and Local Issues! The School and students were the inspiration for me to take The Ivy Voice from an idea to a full-blown reality.

AD: How does The Ivy Voice actually work?

HT: Hmmm, this is a tough question. Where do we begin?

EM: We usually start by coming up with a theme for each edition as we can then figure out what each page will be about and what kinds of articles we want. From there we get in contact with as many people as possible, often starting with people we have already worked with (Buckley House teachers, friends, our own teachers, etc.) and work our way out to getting contributions from students we have never worked with before. We try to let the students who have contributed to every edition continue to do that because we know they enjoy it and sometimes they have an article that they can build on (like Ellie with ‘A Snapshot on School History’).

HT: Yes. We have a brainstorming session at the start of each publication journey, like Emilie said, in a table format. Sometimes we fill out people we would like to write first, and other times we have a great idea for an article and find the journalist later. Plus we always give students the opportunity to write on a completely new idea they have come up with and/or the option to switch to something that they are passionate about. Once all the articles have come in, we do a quick edit for grammar, spelling, everything your English teachers grill you about etc. We also source current artworks by the students before formatting the publication. 

EM: Then we publish it!

AD: What has been your favourite part of being Editors of The Ivy Voice?

HT: Meeting new people and forming connections. Plus reading people’s articles, each time we begin a new publication we are overwhelmed with the enthusiasm of the students and seeing their passion for a certain event come to life really proved the reasons why we started The Ivy Voice in the first place, as a place for students to express their voice. In the first edition, we had 37 contributors from journalists and artists and in the second edition we had over 70 participants, a few less in the third but nonetheless, all people who we had found and met ourselves, including many who we only know through email and their words, which I think is kinda cool. 

EM: Like Harriet said, I have really enjoyed getting to know students from all of the School’s campuses, like you Avriel!! Sometimes our School seems overwhelmingly big, making it difficult to meet new students, but this has provided me with an avenue to meet students from not only different year levels but other campuses. I also really enjoy putting the editions together, it is really satisfying to finally see all the students’ work come together into something that not only looks cool (thanks to student artworks) but really well represents our student body and their perspectives on each term.

AD: What have been some challenges of The Ivy Voice so far? And how did you overcome them?

HT: Haha, timing, as I’m sure Emilie can concur there’s always a bit of a mad rush at the end, as we’re nearing the publication date. We overcame this with perseverance and commitment to the task at hand, and our strengths prevailed!

Also because naturally as Senior Years students we are distanced from the Primary School and don’t interact too much in School, a challenge has been finding younger students to contribute but with the help of the teachers, certainly they have assisted us with finding interested students to write. One of the values of The Ivy Voice, I suppose you could say, is the diversity we try to encompass in our publications from students across year levels. It is easy to fall into the trap of just asking your friends in your year level to write something because then you end up with quite a narrow point of view in such a culturally rich school but while it may take more effort in finding new people, mostly those who we have never met before, it is always worth it in the end (plus we think it is more interesting to read!) It is always fun to receive the students’ articles and even though you have never met them before, no clue what they look like, you can feel a connection through their words and hear their experiences. It’s amazing how in one school there are so many different people with new perspectives and aspirations. 

EM: I think Harriet pretty much covered it, I've really enjoyed the experience and even though there were some challenges along the way, the rewards after each publication came out were worth it. 

AD: Would you like to thank anyone for their help in supporting you through this incredible journey, starting The Ivy Voice?

HT: Certainly, I would like to thank Emilie firstly for the laughs we’ve had during the journey and constant support throughout! I’d also like to thank Ms Di Ciocco, and a special mention to the Schools Communications and Marketing Manager, Ms Kristina Garla, who helped us set up everything plus provide us with free guidance along the way, which was insightfully terrific! 

EM: Haha! I want to thank Harriet too, it has been so much fun to be able to do this with her. The last-minute Sunday night calls where we are rushing to put things together were always quite fun. As Harriet said, we have to thank the teachers that have been there along the way to support us but another big part is the students. Over the past year, we have had an awesome team of students from Plenty Campus, The Ridgeway Campus and University Campus who have been helping us get student contributions. We also need to thank each and every person who contributed to The Ivy Voice, without them we wouldn’t have a student newspaper!

AD: Do you have any advice for the new Editors of The Ivy Voice? (cheeky question)

HT: Haha! I love this question, thanks Avriel! Something that Emilie and I have always strived towards is reaching the broader School community through a diverse range of voices so some advice would be to try and continue this as one of the most rewarding parts of this Editor position is finding people to write. While being in Senior Years, it can be difficult to interact with the Middle Years or the Primary Years, stick with it to incorporate as much of the School as possible. And try to enjoy it! 

EM: I don’t really know what to add from that, Harriet said everything I would have said. I think also, it might seem stressful to be trying to tackle being an editor while in the Senior Years but it really is possible if you find the fun in it and use it as a way to take your mind off of your studies.