As part of its journalism program, YLHS has newspaper, yearbook, and video production classes; however, students around campus are beginning journalism initiatives of their own. This year, a group of community-minded sophomores established the club, Ink and Ideas, in order to amplify students’ voices.

It was started by Angeline Han (10), whose goal was to create a safe space for students to express themselves through art, writing, photography, poetry, and various other forms of self-expression. Through their semesterly magazine publications, their aim is to increase students’ confidence in their respective crafts and talents.

During Angeline’s freshman year summer, she was involved in creating a magazine with the Korean American Leadership Council, which assorted various “experiences and perspectives” from significant Korean American leaders to inspire the upcoming generation of leaders. As she worked on this magazine, she “witnessed how a single story can alter the way a young reader views their own potential.” Eventually, she “realized [her] passion for sharing stories and decided to create the Ink and Ideas Magazine.” Lychee Li (10), the club’s secretary, also has a similar sentiment: “I was really inspired by different people’s stories.”

The other members, Camila Padilla (10), Yongyi (Kaley) Fang (10), and Elizabeth Horner (10) joined due to similar sentiments; they all either joined to share people’s stories or to improve themselves as journalists. Camila, who is also a photojournalist for The Wrangler as well as the treasurer for Ink and Ideas, describes how she was “glad to help [her] friend out and be a part of her club, but more than this [she] was happy to be more involved in the publishing/magazine world, and gain more experience in something [she] loves.” While The Wrangler’s photojournalists are dedicated to writing for the publication, they search for additional ways to hone their craft.

Elizabeth joined Ink and Ideas to improve her craft as well, which in her case was writing. As an editor, her favorite part is “reading everyone’s work, because it’s cool to see what fellow writers are interested in writing about.”

Each year, the “club’s goal is to create one large magazine compiled with various forms of art from different students,” according to Angeline. She adds how while there is a publication made each semester, they plan to collect every submission and “create a journal that students can be proud of.”

Their process in compiling everyone’s work is straightforward and efficient – both club and non-club members are encouraged to submit their pieces to Google Classroom. Then, “a team of volunteer page creators that are assigned a few similar submissions and design appropriate pages that correspond to the theme of each submission.” Finally, the pages are organized by the media, looked over by the editors, and sent to Angeline for the final revision as well as cover designing.

As one of the final revisionists and vice president of the club, Kaley mentions how “one challenge [she] didn’t expect was trying to balance everyone’s opinions while still making decisions that are best for the final magazine.”

Although the publication process can be challenging, all the board members are enthusiastic about their work; they either wish to go into journalism or enjoy storytelling. Camila’s goal “is to pursue journalism after high school…I love writing, and getting to spread that with other people was a big plus of being on the board for this amazing club.”

Both Kaley and Elizabeth look forward to the prospect of continuing “something related to writing or publishing,” Kaley continues, “I enjoy working with creative ideas and helping share people’s stories.” Elizabeth also states how she would enjoy acquiring “a job as the editor of a magazine or even be an editor at a publishing house at some point in [her] career.”

While Lychee hasn’t expressed going into journalism specifically, she hopes “to present diverse students’ feelings, values, and character in different forms of arts to the community,” and to continue portraying these ideas by becoming a film director or an actress in the future.

Finally, Angeline states how she “would love to continue working with magazines and sharing stories even after high school.” If their magazine is successful, she states how they would like to eventually turn the club into a nonprofit organization and donate proceeds to various charities.

Ink and Ideas is built on the foundation of storytelling and sharing experiences throughout YLHS, and has the potential to expand onto a larger scale. Their first publication, which was completed in December of 2025, is available on their Google Classroom (Code: pyzlv5a4). For the current semester, the final deadline for submissions is on April 17th, 2026.