Have you ever been curious about who makes the handbound books BatCat Press produces? As we go through the second half of our 2015 – 2016 year at BatCat Press, we’ll introduce you to all twelve of the staff members that work year-round on creating our beautiful journals and publications! We hope you enjoy!
Sarah is our next featured staff member. She’s a sophomore who has been at Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School, BatCat’s home base, for four years.
NAME: Sarah
AGE: 16
FAVORITE BOOK: The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
FAVORITE AUTHOR: JK Rowling
FAVORITE GENRE TO READ: Creative non-fiction
FAVORITE GENRE TO WRITE: Creative non-fiction
OTHER INTERESTS: tennis, camping, canoeing, other outdoor activities, volunteer work, and driving
“Since seventh grade,” Sarah said, “when I first came to Lincoln Park, I wanted to be on BatCat. I’ve always loved hands-on projects, and I’ve always been fascinated with the publishing process. Plus, being able to get an experience with a real life business at an early age is really nice.”
Sarah said she loved everything about BatCat, but specifically the markets. This year, she did one LAVA show at Lincoln Park, and also went to I Made It! for the Holidays. “I really enjoyed it, meeting all the people who are attracted to the things we do. It’s sort of like, well, when you’re here and you’re making the book, you get to see the end product, but you never seen where it ends up. When you go to the events, you get to see who the customers are and where your stuff ends up; it’s almost like closure! Like, ‘I know my book’s going into the right hands.'”
In her remaining two years with BatCat, she wants to attend more markets and learn as many new binding styles as she can. She added, “I want to be able to take the skills I’ve learned from this and apply them outside. Maybe I’ll do work at a library repairing old books and things.”
However, Sarah’s got plans far outside of high school. “I know I want to be in the Peace Corps,” she said. “All of my extracurricular activities — I have, like, twelve — are all volunteer stuff. I’ve just always loved helping people and doing community service. [The Peace Corps is] a way to take it to a whole other level where I’m not just helping my community, but people around the world.”
Currently, Sarah does a lot of volunteer work through the Girl Scouts; she’s even working towards getting the Gold Award! “The Gold Award is the highest award you can receive in Girl Scouts,” she explained. “You have to pick a lasting project that affects something in your community and do 80 hours of community service with a limited amount of financial aid. It’s really intense!” She then added, “I’m just really about community service. I know that’s what I want to do in the future.”
As for how BatCat and the writing skills she’s learning at Lincoln Park will help her with her altruistic goals? “You can do a lot with words. Actions may speak louder than words, but those actions sprout from something, and words are the key to getting the message out there and starting that action.”
Look out for our last two staff members in the coming weeks!
Olivia C, Staff Member
BatCat Press 