By Nikie Yang, Avery Benbow, Tahlia Moses, and Virginia Riley - Graduating Mary Word Leadership Team of 2024
Nikie Yang
The Mary Word has become such a pivotal and important part of my life, and I can't believe that it's time to say bye to it now. I've had the incredible opportunity and privilege to be the editor-in-chief along with Avery, Tahlia and design editor, Ginny, who have been incredible and helpful. Being a part of the Mary Word has helped re-affirm all my passions for journalism and working in the media industry, as it has provided me with a glimpse of what the future holds - which I cannot wait for! Looking back on my time in the Mary Word, I realise that the Mary Word is an embodiment of what Loreto Life is - academics, extra circulars, friendships and felicity, and I'm so glad I had the opportunity for the Mary Word to shape a significant aspect of my Loreto Life.
My time at the Mary Word has been characterised by various videos, pop culture articles, articles on Loreto and so many more, which I have beyond enjoyed writing. I still remember my 'teacher graduation yearbook' article; which came out in this exact issue 2 years ago, which I loved making and taught me so much about the journalism process and integrity. Being a part of the Mary Word has provided me with a variety of opportunities to connect with students in all grades, develop stronger relationships with teachers and has helped me open up a whole new world of people who share similar passions for creativity and writing.
My time as EIC would not have been as incredible as it was without the incredible leadership team, all the editors, Mrs Rowe, Dr Cunnen, Mrs Hoyland and of course, Mr Scali. He is truly the backbone of this newspaper and is the epitome of a Loreto girl (very juxtaposing), and without his support and help over the years, this newspaper would not be as good as it is. Moreover, I wish the very best from the incoming editors-in-chief, Elisa Jeong, Rosemary O'Brien and Rose Cunningham, who have dedicated themselves to this paper for years. I know the paper will be in very safe hands.
This would not have happened if I had not taken the risk of joining this club, which I had admired from afar for many years, and I'm so glad I did. So, as one last word, take the risk, participate, and make the most out of your time at Loreto doing things you love — and don't look back!
Tahlia Moses
Being a part of the Mary Word team has been such an honour to me. I truly thank the team I work with and am so lucky that Nikie, Avery, and Virginia are such hard workers. I know they will probably read this before it is published, but I wanted to start by thanking them. Nikie, you are incredible. I have grown so close to you in the past year, and I am so thankful to have you in my life. You are the hardest-working person I know, and you deserve everything and more. I am so lucky to know a girl who is not only genuine and real but is so intelligent and dedicated to what she does. Nikie, The Mary Word would not be what it is today without you, your zest and passion for journalism have truly brought it to life. Avery, you are one of the best problem solvers I have ever met. You are so quick to find a solution and always put your hand up to work out a problem or put yourself out to make sure something gets done. I admire your ability to time manage so amazingly well. And Ginny, you are one of the funniest people I know. Your witty and quick humour never fails to make me chuckle, and you are so incredibly talented in your art. I am always amazed and astonished when I look at what you have come up with every week. These girls have run the show and deserve more credit than they are given!!!!
When I first joined the Mary Word in Year 5, I remember feeling so intimidated. The newspaper seemed like this big, daunting project, and I wasn’t sure where I fit in. At that age, everything felt overwhelming, so I ended up leaving after a short while, unsure of how to navigate it. It was a brief experience, but it stayed with me as something I wanted to overcome. By the time I reached Year 7, I gave the Mary Word another go, determined to stick it out. I was a bit older, but I still found myself feeling alone and unsure of my place. I managed to stay involved a bit longer this time, but ultimately, I left once again. It was as if I hadn’t quite grown into my passion for reading and writing, and being part of the newspaper felt just out of reach.
After the lockdowns, something clicked for me. I fell back in love with reading and writing in a way I hadn’t before. I rejoined the Mary Word AGAIN (three times a charm) and this time, it felt different. I finally found my place, and I haven’t looked back since. Being part of the student newspaper has been one of the most fulfilling experiences of my high school journey.
The Mary Word has allowed me to express my interests in politics and social issues, giving me an outlet to share my thoughts and engage with others. Through this platform, I’ve met incredible people who share my passions and have broadened my horizons. It’s helped me find my voice and, in many ways, helped me discover more of who I am. What started as something that once scared me has now become a cornerstone of my high school experience.
Avery Benbow
As I sit down to write this, I honestly don’t know what I could say that would adequately articulate the feelings I have about this student newspaper. So, I’ll just start at the beginning.
Before I was even at Loreto, I always loved writing informatively and creatively. It was an amazing outlet for me to get out all the crazy, colliding thoughts that were bursting from my brain. Among the list of professions I wanted to pursue as a child, along with vet, explorer, and detective, was author of books. When my siblings and I were younger, we even started our own newspaper called ‘The Benbow Weekly’, with little articles and updates on our lives for our dad to read if he was away at work.
When I did eventually come to Loreto, I always read The Mary Word, because I found Mr Scali’s emails fun and everyone in it seemed really talented and passionate. However, I never contemplated joining, for what reason I don’t know. That was, until the 2021 Term 4 Halloween-themed issue, ‘The Witchy Word’, was released. I don’t know what it was (probably my awe and jealousy at being able to write about horror movies, which I love as an American), but I was hooked. So, at the beginning of Year 10 in 2022, I signed up with my friends Lizzie, Liz, and Ellie, and that was it for me - I was here to stay.
As always, our Term 1 issue was on Music Festival, ‘The Mellifluous Word’, and I decided to write a research article titled, ‘On Its 50th Anniversary - The History of the Music Festival’, which definitely satisfied my inner historian with a dive into the archives (thank you again, Ms Vaughn), and a collaboration with Lizzie on ‘How Music Affects the Brain’. It was an intense way to start, but a worthwhile and enjoyable one, especially when my Music Fest article ended up being a feature, with excerpts from it included on the official Music Festival program that year (not sure if I stand by the quality but it was a proud moment nonetheless).
From there, the articles just kept coming. Breaking down misconceptions about diversity in the workplace. Collaborations on cultural food with Ellie and Lizzie. A listicle with a pre-graduation bucket list (most of which I have unfortunately not completed) because I just wasn’t bothered. An issue-inspired article on the Midsummer Festival. Then, finally, the 3,000+ word exploration of ‘the Outing of Kit Connor’. Incited by the deep-seated rage I had boiling within me for days after I found out about actor Kit Connor’s outing, I was taken to research everything I could about the situation, and suddenly, felt compelled to write. So, I did. Definitely too much, but it helped, and in educating others about the issue I felt assured of my own capacity to make the world a better, more informed place through my writing. That was when I realised I wanted to be a journalist, especially relating to social justice issues. Going back, I would change many things about this article, but I will always appreciate what it did for me in this way.
From there and into 2023, I became an Editor (which truly satisfied my inner grammatical and punctuation perfectionist [yes, I do care about comma placement]), and had my first of many iconic collabs with Rose for ‘A Life of Other Loves’, a profile on aromaticism and asexuality, as an unconventional spin on the ‘Love Story: Mary’s Version’ Valentine’s Day issue. Later in the year, this was followed by a summary and reflection on the events of the 1969 Stonewall Riots for ‘In Memory of Stonewall: A History’, interspersed with individual articles profiling Harmony Day, and a personal favourite on ‘Masking Menstruation: Debunking Period Taboos’, which had a similar justice-related tone to my Kit Connor one, but was more sophisticated in its delivery.
Around this time, the leadership selection process for The Mary Word 2023-24 Team began, and I was lucky enough to be selected as an Editor-in-Chief after a Zoom meeting at 2 am (by New York time) with the previous team and Mr Scali. This acted as a substitute for the conventional in-person interview, because I was in America visiting family at the time. I still don’t know what they saw in me, as I certainly hadn’t been in the Mary Word as long as some of the other applicants, and definitely wasn’t as much of a people person as others. Whatever it was, I’m eternally grateful that they gave me the chance to undertake one of the most fulfilling roles in my life. Additionally, I hope that in my time as Editor-in-Chief, I’ve honoured the wishes of those deserving individuals who were unsuccessful in this process, and that you know how fundamental you are to all The Mary Word is.
Speaking of fulfilling, my article for the 2023 ‘One Last Word’ issue of the 2022-23 team turned into something of a pop culture passion project, eventually named ‘A Deconstruction of the Coming-of-Age Genre (with recommendations)’. This was truly a joy to write, and looking back, acted as the solidification of my personal voice in my articles, which was later reinforced through many more articles on pop culture, most aptly be described as refined yapping, but I digress (even if I couldn’t in the articles themselves).
With this issue, the Class of 2023 departed and I commenced my role as Editor-in-Chief with Nikie and Tahlia, along with Riley as our Design Editor, supported by the incredible, dedicated, passionate, and affectionately pedantic, Mr Scali. Remembering how much I had loved the Halloween-themed issue from two years prior, we pushed for ‘Hallowed Be Thy Word’ to come out on the 31st of October, which, being little over a month after graduation, was quite the rush. Yet, as always, our writers and video-makers pulled through, and after many hours of experimenting with Wix, it was released. To say I was proud of this issue would be an understatement. After spending hours reading through all the articles for a final edit, uploading them to Wix, saving all the images from the Google Docs they were written on and uploading those too, adding them to Categories, changing the colours and background of the site, inserting the final designs, and adding the little pumpkin icons (they border the main issue cover and are my favourite thing to do), I could look at it with nothing but love. Additionally, I was able to fulfil my original Mary Word dream of writing a ‘How to Survive a Horror Movie’ guide, which I still stand by, along with an article on ‘Lemuria: The Ancient Roman Halloween’, with my friend Zoe. I’ll admit, outside of the articles, it was very nerve-wracking to release this first issue to the public, but I knew we’d done a good job. Outside of all the excitement and apprehension we all felt when we published the site (for the final time - I made some of the edits bit by bit on accident), it was a moment of pure appreciation, because we’d been able to help make something beautiful, with the compilation of so many students’ passions and talents on display through our entire Mary Word team's work.
Though this was the final issue of 2023, it was certainly not the end of the work, as we decided to pursue one of the most ambitious issues yet - one to be released in the first week of Term 1, 2024. With this, ‘New Year, New Word: Mary’s Resolution’ was born, and we rallied to have articles and videos submitted before the end of Term 4, to be edited and uploaded over the holidays. I was a bit dry on ideas for this issue, so I took a random comment from Mr Scali on the ‘Auld Lang Syne’ song, which usually plays during New Year’s Celebrations, and decided to make it into an article. I personally loved the design of this issue, especially as enabled by its distinctive timing, but that could be said for all of them - nothing is ever dull with The Mary Word.
Incredibly, with hard work and dedication, there came ‘The Sound of Mary’ for Music Fest in the same term! This issue was very enjoyable in its originality, and bore witness to one of my favourite collaborations of all time, ‘My Chemical Romance: A Guide to Join the Marching Band’. Camila, Zoe, and I had harnessed the power of our mutual obsession with My Chemical Romance (cannot recommend it enough) to write another 3,000+ word article! This was such a fun article to write in general, but honestly, I didn’t think much of what it could achieve, as it just seemed like a passion project for us to exploit all our obligatory MCR background knowledge. However, as of the 19th of September, 2024, it has over 1,700 views, which is truly mindblowing and a testament to the power words have across humanity.
Speaking of which, inspired by Margaret Atwood’s infamous quote, “A word after a word after a word is power”, we undertook our social justice-themed issue of the year, in alignment with Loreto Day, ‘A Word After A Word is Power’. As someone with a passion for social justice, this was an incredible issue to contribute to, especially in terms of design. However, the burn-out of Year 12 got to me, and in the absence of adequate motivation to research and write a social justice article, I returned to tried-and-true pop culture ranting, the result of which was ‘The Shows I Was NOT OKAY After Watching… And Why’, as a five-way show review that also hit the 3,000-word mark, because what am I if not consistent? (Don’t worry I know it’s too long - but sometimes you just need to do what makes you happy.)
I did try to make up for this in the next issue, ‘It’s a Mad Mad Mad Word’, a great opportunity for everyone in the paper to write or film about whatever they wanted, though this did present more of a challenge than a specifically-themed issue for some (cough Olivia cough). As such, I wrote ‘Man vs. Bear: An Online Thought Experiment’s Insight Into Women’s Safety’, as my grand return to social justice or current events-related writing, which was very fascinating and also a challenge, because I worked to make it significantly shorter, and thus more engaging, than my previous articles.
That brings us to today, this issue, the final one. ‘On My Mary Way’ is peak chaos, in terms of my contributions. The grande finale collab with Rose on ‘The ‘New American Empire’’, which satisfied our desire for closure with some classic socio-economic and political commentary. Another silly article with Riley on ‘If Teachers Were Insects, What Insects Would They Be?’ (I wonder if you can tell who wrote which entries…). I also assisted with a quiz on the proper colours to match each subject with Lauren. Additionally, Zoe, Camila and I got the band back together, along with Sophie Critchlow, for a video titled 'Addressing Stereotypes about 'My Chemical Romance' Fans' (any excuse to wear my Black Parade jacket), which, needless to say, was an incredible experience, despite my unfamiliarity with multimedia (never prevent yourself from trying something new). And finally, this. My final goodbye to you all. If you’ve read this whole thing, congratulations, you’ve officially survived my final, and most emotionally charged (well, could be tied with Kit Connor), Mary Word mega-rant!! As I said at the beginning, I honestly don’t know what to say as my farewell, because it feels unreal that it’s actually finished.
The Wednesday meetings, then Monday ones too. The chatting with everyone about their articles and videos, and then sometimes randomly to Mr Scali about Feminism. The late nights writing and editing. The early mornings before History Extension publishing and sending meeting reminders. The laughing about Riley’s keen observations of teachers. The planning for the next issue, the next poster, the next article, the next anything. It’s all over now, but I don’t want to recognise that, and am not even sure if I can. The Mary Word is such a special piece of Loreto, and I wouldn’t be the person I am today without it. Even running the meetings has given me a sense of confidence that I never would’ve had the chance to develop otherwise, and the relationships I’ve made and strengthened through this newspaper will stay in my heart forever.
Lizzie, Liz, Ellie, Brooke, Zoe, Livy K, and Camila, thank you for being amazing friends to have bonded with over The Mary Word, I couldn’t have asked for better people to eat lunch in 2.11 GBC before everyone else arrived or do collab articles with. Ainsley, thank you for always bringing me back down to earth with your enjoyably annoying presence everywhere I go, which has come to include The Mary Word. Rose, thank you for offering to proofread my Kit Connor article that one time, I can’t imagine where we would both be if you hadn’t. Nikie and Tahlia, thank you for being an amazing team to work with this year, I’ve learned so much from both of you and look forward to seeing where you end up in the future. Riley, thank you for always making me laugh and giving me a hug whenever I needed it for Mary Word, and for always making sure I remembered when we had a meeting because I knew I needed to remind you about it or you wouldn’t show up. Mr Scali, thank you for always pushing us to be our best selves, as writers and leaders, and for never relenting that we can all achieve greatness if we are only willing to put in the work. Your faith in a group of high schoolers can sometimes feel misplaced, but as we’ve seen through this newspaper, is most certainly not.
As a final point to conclude, ever since I joined The Mary Word, I’ve added my articles to a Word document, as well as a list of links to the articles from that issue that I especially liked and wanted to return to (I do read all of them). For ‘The Mellifluous Word’, there were three, but for ‘A Word After A Word is Power’, there were eleven, which I think is indicative of not only my growing appreciation for The Mary Word, but also the growing nature of The Mary Word itself (look at our semi-recent move from 2.11 GBC to Room 75/76). There are so many things: important and unimportant; short and long; serious and silly, that we have to say as a Loreto community, because everyone has something to offer. I truly hope that, if nothing else, The Mary Word has been able to showcase that to you all, especially to anybody out there who maybe isn’t confident enough in their own voice to put it out there, just yet.
With that, I say my final thank you to you, dear readers, for putting up with me all these years. I wouldn’t be who I am today without you. Fittingly, the last icons I chose to border this issue cover (still my favourite part of designing the site) were lamps, because our time as Class of 2024 is over, and we are passing the torch, with it the great light that is The Mary Word, to you. I have no doubts that you will treat this newspaper with all the respect it deserves, and continue its legacy for many years to come. So, in the words of the great Gerard Way, lead singer of My Chemical Romance, “Since I am bad with goodbyes, I refuse to let this be one.” Until next time - I’ll miss you.
Virginia Riley (Design Editor)
I don’t think I have quite as much to say as the others, on the topic of leaving the Mary Word behind. Not that it hasn’t been a massive part of my life - of course, it has, but I haven’t really been able to believe that we’re actually leaving it behind. Same with graduation - I’m sure everyone is going “Graduating? Yeah, right”, sarcastically, even though it’s… actually happening. And that means saying goodbye to The Mary Word, which I had the pleasure of working with for the last couple of years.
Clearly, I’d been aiming at this since birth. Back when I was in primary school, I actually wanted to make my own school newspaper. There’s a sheet of paper lying around in my room somewhere, with some poorly drawn grass on it, and it’s advertising whatever Year-4-me thought a school newspaper would be. Obviously, it didn’t take off. My parents, too, named me ‘Virginia’ because they thought all the famous journalists and authors (think: Virginia Woolf) had the same first name. It’s ironic, considering I actually ended up doing mostly graphic design for the school newspaper, but those are where most of my talents lie, and I was very happy to contribute.
It’s also funny to think about the way in which I joined The Mary Word. I was on the email list for ages and ages, because I kept signing up, standing outside the meeting rooms, and then chickening out. Truthfully, I also didn’t want to sacrifice my lunchtimes for something I wasn’t even sure I was interested in or could significantly contribute to. About halfway through Year 11, Rose and Avery convinced me to join, I brought my friend Trinity, and I really started taking it seriously; talking with Anna Rabeau, the 2023 design editor, I realized that I liked the idea of helping something. An organization will always need members, and they will always need ‘work’ to keep running - but work is a privilege, especially when I really do believe in the message of the Mary Word. I absolutely want to keep creativity alive in Loreto, so I think that guided me. But it was also just intuition, you know - I tend to follow my heart when it comes to important decisions, and I really remember thinking, “What on Earth am I doing this for? I hate commitment and responsibility. I’m like, the worst person to apply for this.” But I knew, 100%, that if I got the role, I would commit to it like nothing else. I think I’ve just been telling myself I hate ‘work’ so that I can over-exaggerate my laziness, therefore being able to defend any failures as “I didn’t even try!”, but that’s a conversation for another day. And hey, I was absolutely committed to being the Design Editor. I take pride in being the person who gets to create something beautiful - I’m pretty sure that’s what I told the 2023 Editors in Chiefs in our interview, actually, that I “love to make beautiful things, and believe that the school newspaper should look good, because it is good, so hopefully I can help with that.”
And hopefully, it did look good! But let’s do some statistics, to see how much I really worked.
The cover for the most recent issue, ‘On My Mary Way’, took 7 hours and 35 minutes to draw. The editor’s background for this issue took 22 minutes.
The cover for our miscellaneous issue, ‘It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World’, took 9 hours and 41 minutes to draw (it had a lot of complex linework, since the brief was to make it look ‘chaotic and crowded’). The editor’s background only took 18 minutes.
The cover for our Loreto Day issue, ‘A Word After a Word is Power’, took 10 hours and 14 minutes (these are just getting longer!). This was Mr Scali’s personal favourite. The editor’s background ended up taking 15 minutes.
The cover for our Music Festival issue, ‘The Sound of Mary’, ended up taking only 4 hours on Procreate, but that was because I repurposed elements from an advertising poster I did earlier. Including that, it was about 4 hours and 42 minutes, plus the editor’s background, which took 30 minutes.
This was a sharp contrast to the ‘New Year, New Word: Mary’s Resolution’ cover, which took a whopping 12 hours and 41 minutes (that’s half a day). I like this cover the least because of it; I had no compositional reference to go off of, so I pretty much had to organise all the elements myself, and the fireworks were all hand-drawn, so that added extra time too. Of course, there was also the editor’s background, which took about 20 minutes. Obviously, I say all this with love - I still enjoyed working on it a lot!!
And finally, on the first ever design I did - the cover for the Halloween issue ‘Hallowed be Thy Word’ - I spent 6 hours and 59 minutes, and another 41 for the editor’s background. This is actually my favourite cover, possibly because of the nostalgia, but also just because I enjoyed the greyscale, the symmetrical composition, and the texture on the trees.
All in all, that’s 48 hours + 378 minutes, or 54.3 hours, which would be over two days straight. Granted, these numbers aren’t totally accurate, since sometimes I’ll have Procreate open while I go get a snack from the kitchen, or whatever. I promise I don’t do all this to guilt-trip all the Mary Word-ers - I just like numbers and statistics - but to show how much I’ve put into this project and how much I’ve loved drawing for the school newspaper.
It’s been fun. I can’t believe I’m leaving. I’ve loved lunchtimes, I’ve loved writing really dumb articles, I’ve loved having my teachers come up to me to say they liked my dumb article. It’s been really great. Thank you, The Mary Word, for giving me an opportunity to do something for the community that I so respect.
XOXO.
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