Finding Ourselves Through Identity

By Treasure Crowder | July 17, 2026

The school year for the first time, Commodore John Rodgers School has its first-ever school-based Student Editorial Board through CHARM, so CHARM students are getting ready to release this year’s literary magazine. But before we could pick any stories or artwork, we had to answer a very important question: what is the best theme for this year?

It took us a couple of weeks to think about it and talk about it, but after a while we all agreed on something. Finally, we chose Identity. This theme is really important to us because it is about who we are and who we are becoming. A lot of our literary group is made up of 8th graders, which means we’re leaving middle school and we’re never going to set foot on that campus as students ever again. That led us to the theme of identity because we wanted to leave a piece of ourselves behind to look back at. This year, we talked a lot about how eighth grade is a time of change. We also talked a lot about how we are changing, both friendship-wise and maturity-wise. We are trying to understand ourselves. That is why Identity feels so personal and authentic to us. It is not just a theme; it’s essentially a piece of everything there is to know about us and our lives.

Lots of us said, “We didn’t want a theme that just sounded good. We wanted one that actually meant something to us.” We wanted a theme that felt real, not something that just sounded pretty. One student shared, “Identity fits us really well because we are all still trying to figure out who we are while also remembering who we used to be.” That connected deeply with us as we are leaving our childhood and becoming young adults.

We worked together to choose the theme, and we shared our ideas, talked about what was important to us, and discussed other meaningful topics. Some people wanted to focus on growing up, while others wanted to talk about being different, feeling pressure, or trying to balance being a kid while growing up. In the end, all of these ideas connected back to one thing: Identity.

For us, this theme is also about what it’s like to be a teenager today. There is a lot of pressure surrounding our identities, especially on social media, because it can make it hard to truly be yourself. We wanted this year’s magazine to feel honest and show what it is really like to be a student today.

As the year comes to an end, making the magazine became more than just making a book. It became a way for us to think about who we are, who we used to be, and who we are becoming. All of us on the Commodore John Rodgers CHARM team are very excited to announce our upcoming launch party for the very first time, and I am excited to leave not only my legacy at Commodore, but also a piece of all of ours forever.