November Edition of Paw Print Magazine is Distributed

by Rebecca Bazini, SSLI '26

Today, the fall edition of Paw Print Magazine (PPM), Schechter’s student-run, 24-page glossy magazine, was released and distributed around the school. Students read the magazine’s numerous articles, played the games, and completed questionnaires written by their peers. The fall edition marks one of three releases throughout the school year. The magazine is run by Editor-in-Chief Micah Bidner and Jr. Editor-in-Chief Sam Levenson and is supervised by Mr. Shawn Thorgersen, who serves as an English teacher as well as the high school assistant principal.

The process of creating the magazine itself spans months. For this November edition, editors began to brainstorm article ideas in early September. “We write them down, we refine them, we work on them perfectly,” stated Bidner, a senior. After the creation of the prompts, all writers meet and choose articles that they wish to write. Bidner explained, “After that, the writing process begins. So then it’s writing, and then editing, and more writing and then editing, and then it goes to our layout team, who then curates the actual magazine part, which we all know and love.”

One of the important stages of editing is the PPM galley, when the first draft edition is printed and checked for errors. Thorgersen said, “I’m there for what are called galley sessions, which are the final edits, and then I read the entire thing to make sure that we have as few errors as possible when we’re about to actually upload and send to the publisher.”

Thorgersen is responsible for coordinating the printing of the magazine. “I am the one who corresponds with and makes the orders for the publisher.” He said, “So that’s how the physical copy comes into play. And in distribution, I just tell the kids that the box is here and I’m available for when they want to open the box and distribute the magazines.”

As supervisor, Thorgersen also oversees the entire operation of the magazine. “Generally speaking, I want my students to be in charge of as much as possible. I sit in on the pitch sessions to help try to shape the stories, but I don’t create the stories. I only try to help them hone down their ideas.”

The cover of the magazine features seniors Micah Bidner and Shir Levenson. 

Today, students enjoyed reading their peers’ perspectives on world issues, school news, arts and culture, and opinion pieces. Senior Layna Botwinick said, “My favorite article was ‘Activism in the Age of Social Media’ by Gideon Levenson. It’s something I can relate to [because] I feel like I get all my news sources from TikTok and Instagram today.” She said, “Also, I feel like social media is the cause of both problems regarding issues today, but can also be a solution.”

Bidner sees his last year as editor as a chance to finalize his legacy for the Schechter community. “I hope to instill a love of writing, a love of reading, and, you know, just the love of the magazine, and I think written words like this are kind of dying. We are so often consumed by the media, on our phones, or on TikTok or on social media, and so to sit down and just read an article on paper is so important.”

Thorgersen’s message is, “As journalists and as writers, we help shape the conversations that happen in our community. There’s tremendous power and responsibility in that. I invite you to always be looking for the next big conversation and to pitch that idea at our future meetings.”

Rebecca Bazini is a staff writer for Paw Print Now and has been published on the site since January 2023. Rebecca is currently a senior at the Schechter School of Long Island and can be reached at the following email address: rbazini26@schechterli.org.