Stratford’s New Coming of Age Format for The Oracle Magazine

In celebration of The Oracle’s upcoming 50th anniversary, and with the retirement of longtime school newspaper adviser Janice Cummons, the Stratford news publication will be rebranded to magazine format this year. As Co-Editor-in-Chief Ashley Cooper explains, “there was no better time…students in our generation no longer read newspapers, and we really want to re-engage our audience.” 

The new attention-grabbing 16-page layout will provide interesting aesthetic graphics. Ashley adds that the entire magazine will be “published in color and cover topics that students actually care about.” The Oracle will now be distributed at the end of each nine weeks during the school year. As Ashley sees it, “going from six issues to four gives us more time to make each issue the best it can be.” 

Reporter Eszter Badescu shares, “our editors, Nic Rhew and Ashley, do a great job of keeping everything on track,” and  the entire 50-member staff is super excited and working hard to meet all the deadlines. 

Under the leadership of teacher adviser Sara Boyle, the new magazine will have four basic sections: news, sports, life, and perspectives with a variety of articles written on both local and national events. Ashley reiterates that “we are adding in sections that may feel more like a tabloid to appeal to the student body.” The revised design will include music reviews, restaurant reviews, and sections where student submissions will be featured.

As a former Stratford student and editor-in-chief of The Oracle under Ms. Cummons, Ms. Boyle has been very instrumental in the transition. Ashley says that it was Ms. Boyle's initial idea to do a magazine and adds that Ms. Boyle was able to gain access to various innovative programs that will help streamline the publication process and allow the staff to better incorporate social media and The Oracle website. Ashely then boasts that “it is a team effort, and Ms. Boyle is an amazing asset—she is energetic, easy to talk to, and brings so many ideas to the table.”

Reminiscing about her own memories of the editorial board and working through lunch to meet deadlines, Ashley recalls, "we all have the best time together, even when we're stressed! We definitely have our fair share of inside jokes.” 

Ashley is thankful for the many amazing relationships she has made while on the staff of The Oracle and grateful to have worked her way up to the editor-in-chief position. She looks forward to taking part in the inaugural new format and concludes, “it is so rewarding to collaborate with close friends to create a publication we are all really proud of!”

The Oracle will be hosting a profit share event today (Wednesday, October 12) at the Chick-Fil-A located at 753 Dairy Ashford on from 3-8 p.m. A portion of the profits from purchases made will go to support The Oracle—just mention “Stratford Newspaper” when ordering.