10th Anniversary of Unconquered Peaks!

At Wimbledon High, we are lucky to have Unconquered Peaks (UP), an entirely student-run magazine that has been going on for over a decade as of 2024. Every year, the large writing team from year 10 and above is headed up by a new sixth former, creating a vast range of articles, ranging from the academic study of numismatics to a cultural deep dive on true crime, and even regularly to the humorous, including a fulsome study of people’s personalities based off of their favourite Christmas chocolate. Each week on the blog as cartoon is also produced, satirizing the school and the country at large.

UP is a hugely exciting opportunity for all those who contribute, with many students volunteering to be part of the team and writing articles on pretty much anything and everything. I started writing for the magazine shortly before the end of year 11 and, seeing the vast opportunity for creativity it gave me, I quickly found myself writing articles once or twice a month. I fell in love with the scope for following my own interests in a form of investigative journalism, as well writing in comic articles, and I knew that for my final year as a student at Wimbledon High School I was eager to be the editor-in-chief – a role I later received when I was invited to join the student leadership team in 2023. As editor, I encouraged other students to begin writing for the weekly editions and started shaping how I wanted the magazine to look for the following year – full of the breadth that I felt represented the broad range of niches and quirks of Wimbledon High, that was also filled with interest and wit.

In the way I wanted it to look, creating the annual printed edition was not too dissimilar from the blog and I worked with writers for a range of titles and genres of article for the magazine itself. After a lot of writing, editing and drawing, for which Shanalia, the creative editor, must be given a great deal of credit, the content of the edition came together. Working with Firebrand, the graphic designer team, allowed for such a wide range of creativity to come out, showcasing the artistic talents of every cartoonist involved in the rounds of collaborative edits. I am hugely grateful to now be the owner of a printed edition of UP, and being able to be its editor for a year was a fantastic privilege – I can’t wait to see what the magazine does next.

- Milly, 'Unconquered Peaks' Editor-in-Chief