This past week, Royal Aura, Rosary’s creative arts magazine, was added to the school website. According to Mr. Bevins, Rosary’s Creative Writing teacher, “The website started because for 15 years, I have seen amazing creative writers and artists come through Rosary Academy, and I wanted to create a space to celebrate them and showcase their talents.”
While Mr. Bevins created the actual site, his sixth period Creative Writing class edited and curated all the material viewers can see and read. Additionally, the class decides collectively whether a submission officially gets published or not.
Mr. Bevins said the outlet was born from his belief that “Rosary is a school where [students] are celebrated for the unique individuals they are. This means we need to create spaces that celebrate all content areas and allow for all students to pursue their passions.”
To go even deeper, we asked junior Grace Raskopf, a founding member of the Royal Aura, for her thoughts.
1. What goes on the Royal Aura?
On the website, we feature and celebrate the creative work—whether that be written, studio, performing, or any other form of artistic endeavor—of the students at Rosary! “Aura” is actually an acronym that stands for “Authors Uplifting Royal Artists.”
2. How did it come about?
We noticed that, besides Trinitas, Rosary didn’t have anything that was solely focused on the side of our academics and extracurriculars that focused more on the humanities. Since we are all in the Creative Writing class, we weren’t exactly women in STEM, so it was a bit discouraging that we had no opportunity to share our art with others. And we wanted to change that! So, we created the Royal Aura. A lot of it was Mr. Bevins’s idea, and this all came to life because of his dedication to making it happen. So, thank you, Mr. Bevins!
3. Why is it important that we have a creative writing outlet like this?
It’s incredibly important to have an outlet for creativity because this is how aspiring writers, artists, musicians, and all the other creatives gain confidence. We have to share our work if we ever want to get anywhere with it. And I—along with the rest of the creators of the Aura—think that art is the soul of who we are as people. That’s part of why we chose the word “aura”—it’s the heart of something, the distinctive quality that makes it what it is.
As Robin Williams said in “Dead Poets Society”: “Medicine, law, business, engineering—these are all noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love—these are what we stay alive for.” Why not celebrate what makes us who we are: the art we create? It’s soul-bearing, and it’s an opportunity for us to be honest with each other. That’s what art is. It’s a chance for people to express themselves and communicate their feelings and opinions in ways that they can’t in simple conversation. The Aura is the perfect vessel for it. What could be more important?
4. Where do you see the Royal Aura going within a few years? Or how do you see it evolving over the years?
The bare minimum we can hope for is that the Aura will still exist; we have a lot of hope that this is the kind of thing that will matter to people and will continue to thrive beyond this year and the ones following. One thing we’d really like to have happen is for there to be a printed magazine filled with all of the best of the best work released at the end of each semester; the viewers will vote on the work.
We’d also like for there to be a club dedicated to the Royal Aura so that people who want to be involved with it but can’t take the Creative Writing class can still help out. I’ll be (hopefully) starting that club next year, so feel free to join.
5. How can others get involved?
You can get your work published by emailing it to Mr. Bevins or by bringing in a physical copy to him in Room 204! If you want to get involved with doing the actual publishing and helping out with the website, you can either take the Creative Writing class or join the Royal Aura club at Club Rush next year. I encourage everyone to at least check out the page, even if you aren’t interested in submitting any work. It’s really important what we’re doing here: we’re recognizing the incredible talent of Rosary Academy that hasn’t truly been honored until now.
The Royal Reporter loves this new creative outlet and was especially proud when Mr. Bevins gave the journalists a shout out: “I would have to say that the Royal Reporter was the inspiration behind creating this as an actual website.”
Please check out this beautiful new collection of Royals’ work when you can. Head to Royal Aura on Rosary’s website under the “Student Life” section or simply click the link.
