Sachem is Algonquin’s sole art and literary magazine. Junior Elise Ribaudo, Sachem’s Managing Editor, uses her talent and passion for the arts to lead Sachem to success.

After joining Sachem as a sophomore, Ribaudo has become an editor in order to promote appreciation for the arts.

“I’m very passionate about art and I think it’s something that’s really underappreciated,” Ribaudo said. “I want to produce a magazine that makes people appreciate art and literature and I figured that being managing editor would be the best way to accomplish that.”

Ribaudo has always excelled in the arts and she loves creating masterpieces.

“You can take pencil and paper and create a piece of art that amazes people by forcing them to not only think about the technique and the work that went into it,” Ribaudo said. “You can take objects with little to no value, and make something almost priceless out of them.”

As a child she entered various art competitions and took home a prize for each that she participated in.

Since entering high school, Ribaudo has shifted her focus from competitions to Sachem. Ribaudo is currently focused on bringing in submissions to the magazine.

“The more submissions, the better. If we get lots of submissions, then there’s a lot of options [of pieces] for us to choose from [to include in the magazine] and we can ultimately produce a better quality magazine,” Ribaudo said.

Once the submissions are in, the club evaluates them to make sure they reach the magazine’s standards.

“When going through writing submissions, we look for pieces that are well organized and well written,” Ribaudo said. “A major focus of our selections is that the pieces we do choose, relate to the overall theme of the magazine for the year. The same goes for art submissions.”

The theme for this year’s edition has yet to be chosen. Once the theme has been established it will be published on the bulletin boards along with information on how to send in submissions.

Ribaudo is excited to not only to share the selected submissions of her peers, but also to share her passion for the arts through the 2015-2016 edition of Sachem.

“Art is such an important part of my life and who I am and I love being able to share this creative side of me with the rest of the school through Sachem,” Ribaudo said.