Herricks High School’s literary journal, OPUS (Issue 62), has achieved a First Class distinction in the 2020 National Council of Teachers of English’s Recognizing Excellence in Art and Literary Magazines program. This is the highest honor that can be obtained in the REALM competition, which additionally presents Superior, Excellent and Merit ratings.
OPUS is a product of the high school’s Literature Club, advised by teacher Alan Semerdjian. Special acknowledgment goes to the publication’s student leaders from last year, who graduated last June. They include Editors-in-Chief Derek Chen and Carrie Hsu, Assistant Editors-in-Chief Nicole Chen and Aroob Jalil, Art Director Vanessa Peng, Online Content Editor Kaitlyn Yoo, Treasurer Izzah Nazir and Public Relations Officer Mia Carranza.
Bradley Chung, Carolyn Lau, Chris Leung, David Gonzalez, Ellery Ibo, Hammad Alam, Joy Lu, Kayla Sohn, Kyla Ye, Lucas Lin, Matthew Liao, Moniza Mujtaba, Nigel Oommen, Patrick Leu, Trista Mele, Mamerto Gamboa and Zainab Yousuf also deserve commendations as production staff members.
OPUS 62 features a collection of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and art pieces created by Herricks High School students and can be viewed at www.opusherricks.wixsite.com/opus/opus-62. Cover designs are by Lamiya Rangwala and Jeff Chen.
“I’m really thankful we were able to make this journal,” Semerdjian said. “It was a difficult and unusual year, but the students really persevered and illustrated the fact that the literary community we’ve established here at Herricks is among the finest in the region and nation. I’m very proud of them.”
—Submitted by Herricks Public Schools
