At Hickory High School, the Literary Club has always had as one of its most important goals the publishing of a literary magazine filled with student writing, artwork, and photography. Starting in the 1950s and continuing through the 1970s, the magazine bore the name The Leaves so as to fit thematically with The Log (the HHS yearbook) and The Twig (the HHS newspaper). At some point in the 1980s, the club and the magazine were discontinued.
In 1993 when I joined the Hickory High School team, I set about building a new Literary Club because I felt strongly that teens are creative, enthusiastic people full of life who need positive ways to express themselves. Finally in 1995, the club was established well enough to publish the first volume of The Leaves in over a decade. Feeling confident that the group had built momentum and focus, I was hopeful that it would survive and thrive once I left Hickory High in 1998. Sadly, only one more volume was published in my absence in 1999. Once I returned to HHS for the 2005/2006 school year, I revived the club and the magazine. Since 2007, HHS students have published a volume of The Hickory Leaves each year except for 2011, but they made up for the lapse by publishing an extra-large volume in 2012.
The 2013 volume is ground-breaking in that we are straying from the expensive tradition of printing copies that we then sell. Instead, we launch into the digital age by publishing online for free and only purchasing hard copies for our contributing writers, photographers, and artists!
Hard copies of our magazines are also available for anyone who would like to support the HHS Literary Club. Buying hard copies is a wonderful way to support the club and its mission to provide a creative outlet for our incredibly talented and expressive students.
Finally, I would like to thank all of the students who have participated so enthusiastically in the Literary Club over the years. Your creative expression, your very hearts, have kept this worthy tradition alive.