The school literary magazine, the Kaleidoscope, has undergone drastic changes during the past three years. The first and largest change that sparked all the rest was the appointment of now-senior Kaity Hinojosa as Editor in Chief two years ago.

Hinojosa’s rise to the top was an unconventional one. It all started during her sophomore year when her creative writing teacher, Ms. Roche, asked her to join Langley’s Literary Magazine Club, formally known as the Shropshire. This was a great match for her because she had, as Hinojosa explained, “always been involved in the arts.” The club had been run by two seniors who graduated, so Hinojosa as a sophomore, self-appointed herself as Editor-in-Chief. From that point forward, the literary magazine underwent an extreme makeover.

The first change she made was changing the magazine’s name from the Shropshire to the Kaleidoscope. This happened accidentally in 2009 when she and the staff were looking through a magazine called “Kaliopy.” “Gabby Jacobsen [who is now a senior] read it wrong, and it was so funny and fitting that we called it that!” said Hinojosa.

Another change Hinojosa made was to the number of staff in the club. She was able to boost the staff number from only eight to about twenty-four staff members. “It’s important for us to have an outlet to showcase our work and the Langley Kaleidoscope does just that,” said Hinojosa.

In addition to the changes in name and amount of members, she also switched publishers, extended the magazine to have more pages, switched from using regular print paper to glossy paper, and changed from black and white to 100% color.

With these significant changes came a rigorous screening process when selecting works for the magazine. The important things Hinojosa judges in a piece of work before she publishes it are good composition, thoughtfulness, symbolism, audience reaction, and how a piece will look in the paper. “It is a collaborative effort; I have always appreciated the editors. The editor’s opinions are the foundation of the magazine. Opinions make standards very high,” explained Hinojosa. Her favorite section of the magazine is the art section. “I like art because it’s usually the most colorful and you can appreciate the time it took to create the piece and its technique,” she said.

Outside of the Kaleidoscope, Hinojosa spends most of her time doing drama. “I am a Drama Princess,” she said. She also likes to dance both hip hop and jazz, which she has been pursuing since sixth grade. Last year, she began singing in her church’s choir. Someday, she would like to be a speech pathologist “because it involves working with individuals with their speech. I can also work art into it too.”

The results of Hinojosa’s hard work can be seen when the Kaleidoscope comes out along with the yearbook in June.