After 80 percent of its staff graduated last school year, Montage, Orono’s school literary magazine club, seeks new members and submissions. Since 1998, the club has published a collection of student artwork and writing towards the end of each school year.  Despite the turnover, the club, advised by English teacher Jarrett Lundquist, will continue to breathe creativity into the high school halls, just as it has for the past 19 years.

“It’s an interesting concept,” sophomore and Montage member Maddie Schafer said, “I personally like looking at everyone’s stuff…I like the concept of incorporating literature and art into one book.”

Each publication, available for purchase at the end of the year, features student work from paintings and photography to short stories and poetry; the collection is called Montage, which means a continuous whole composed of fragments of pictures and text. Club members and editors sort through submissions and choose their favorites to weave into a coherent theme; they also work on the layout of the book.

Many English classes offer extra credit to students who submit to Montage, however submissions can be emailed to Lundquist at any time.  

This year, Lundquist said the club will try to find more ways to spread the word about Montage. One idea was to give out old Montage publications for free, so students will be exposed to what they could be involved with. Students who do not know what Montage is may have heard of Teacher Competition, an annual event organized by Montage.

Teacher Competition, or Teacher Comp as it is most commonly called, creates fierce competitors out of Orono educators, pinning teacher against teacher in a laugh-inducing showdown. Those who agree to participate are divided into teams, Red or Blue. In the days before the event, Montage members decorate the competitors’ doors, advertising the “athletes” for students to root for.

“Most iconic moments from Teacher Comp: when Williams landed a bottle flip after it fell off a table, when Smalling and Williams arm wrestled for a straight minute before Williams pulled through,” senior and Montage member Antonia Petschen said, “Needless to say, it was a good day for Williams.”

Teacher Comp always falls on the last Spartan Hour before winter break. This year, Teacher Comp will be on Dec. 20. The $1 admission fee goes towards raising money for publishing Montage.

“If [students] love art or writing [Montage] is a great place to find other people who are like that,” Lundquist said, “the whole thing is student directed…so if you want a lot of control over publishing something…it’s an opportunity for you to do that.”