This year, Pendragon is continuing its tradition of being a showcase of student writing and art, even with the circumstances the club has been put in by  COVID-19.

For students who haven’t heard of the club: “Pendragon is the high school’s literature and art magazine.  We publish one issue a year and the contents are made up entirely of student poetry, fiction, non fiction, photography, sketching, painting, graphics and we’ve even included photographs of sculpture,” said Mr. Filie, adviser of Pendragon.

This year’s magazine has run into some complications with COVID-19 restrictions. While a digital copy of the magazine has been proposed to Mr. Filie in the past, the idea was turned down then because of the long-standing tradition of a physical magazine that students could pick up and read in school. This year, the situation might call for a change to that tradition.

“I personally think that there should be a digital copy this year…We don’t want to be giving out physical copies that we have all touched multiple times to other people for them to touch even more,” said Cathryn Panarin, a junior in the club. 

The strict  COVID-19 guidelines and the limited amount of days that students will be in school may mean that a physical copy of the magazine would be difficult to get into the hands of students safely.

Mr. Filie prefers to publish a physical copy for this year, but he is considering creating a digital version along with it.

“I’m contemplating a digital copy in addition to a hard copy, but I am not interested in replacing the magazine.  No digital version of Pendragon could replace having one’s own physical copy of the art and writing of the students of this building,” said Mr. Filie. “…Even now, I can put my hands on a copy of the first edition that I was adviser to (1993-1994) as well as editions that preceded me.  Some of these go back to the 1970s, when the magazine was called ‘Kaleidoscope.’”

Pendragon member Marisa Sikorsky, a senior, said that one advantage of a digital version is that it “will be accessible all to students and staff, whether they are at home or not.

Despite the challenges posed by this year, Mr. Filie was complimentary of the students in the club describing them as a “staff of exceptional people.”

“We have a few returning staff members, and quite a few new ones,” said Mr. Filie, “and they’ve been amazing on the virtual Meets.”

The staff was equally approving of Mr. Filie’s supervisory role.

“I think Mr. Filie is a great club leader for Pendragon. He definitely leads us to some amazing pieces that he gets from his Creative writing classes and English classes,” said Panarin.

Sikorsky agreed: “Mr. Filie is an amazing and dedicated club advisor who always puts his best efforts into monitoring us and keeping us on track”

The club is currently being held online on Tuesdays and Thursdays around 2:30 p.m. on remote days and 3 p.m. on hybrid days. For those interested in joining the club, please contact Mr. Filie for more information.