By Jamie Chang

Harvard-Westlake Voices runs a website where students may submit blog posts about topics ranging from studying to finals to embarrassing yearbook photos. Founder and President Molly Cinnamon ’14 began the H-W Voices club in September.

“I started reading the MIT blogs once my brother was accepted there, and I was impressed by how the bloggers express themselves in such creative ways,” Cinnamon said. “Blogging is so different than any other form of communication. It’s more relaxed, more open, and more personal. Harvard-Westlake has such a unique student body, so I wanted to create a forum in which all its many voices could be heard.”

When first starting the club, Cinnamon went to summer school and dean coordinator Ryan Wilson to be the faculty adviser.

Cinnamon explained to Wilson at the start of the year that “the goal of H-W Voices is to allow the unique voices of our campus to share their personal experiences, therefore further opening up communication between students and students, faculty and faculty and students and faculty.”

“Molly Cinnamon had this great idea for a club that extends the greater conversation in the community,” Wilson said. ”I think that’s a great idea, so I said yes immediately.”

Students who want their posts to be published on the H-W Voices website, hwvoices.wordpress.com must email their posts to both Cinnamon and Wilson. Cinnamon and Wilson edit the posts and then put them on the website. Currently, there are 10 bloggers, ranging from sophomores to seniors, Cinnamon said.

Both Cinnamon and Wilson said the H-W Voices club has made tremendous progress in blogging this past year.

“What I’m most impressed with is the solid and consistent performance from almost all the bloggers throughout the year,” Wilson said. “They delivered new material on a range of topics at the same time personal, with an eye focused on the H-W community, and just the gestalt of being a teenager.”

During the past seven months, the H-W Voices website has gotten 8,500 views. Wilson says H-W Voices “creates dialogue and provokes thought from across the community.”

“I credit Molly with her vision and organization, as well as the bloggers for their enthusiasm and creativity,” Wilson said. “I expect it [H-W Voices] to grow to include more voices from the community, teachers especially.”

To read H-W Voices blogs, click here.