Horizons: Arts & Literary Magazine, one of the most long-standing publications at Tech, allows students to explore their creativity, display their talents in the annual magazine, and form friendships during weekly club meetings. Horizons continues to honor its founder, former Principal William Pabst, by creating an unrestricted community where aspiring artists are free to pursue their interests in any and all aspects of art and literature.

Horizons was founded to inspire Tech students to pursue fields outside of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Anya Chu (‘23), the Editor-in-Chief of Horizons, said that “At Tech, which can be very competitive and STEM-oriented, people are afraid to adopt the title of artist even if they are wonderful and talented,” so “we use Horizons to put a spotlight on all the amazing artists and give them room to flourish.” The word artist has many meanings, and Horizons embraces them all.

For instance, Chu comes from a very diverse artistic background, with family members in the fields of poetry, painting, and music. When she arrived at Tech, she was excited to discover that it had its very own literary magazine because it was “just a space to create and relax and enjoy making art rather than it being this place of judgment.”

There are many art clubs at Tech, but Horizons is unique in that it is a copyrighted publication, meaning that it gives legal credit and protection to the artists whose work it publishes. Unlike other art clubs, Horizons gives artists trying to specialize in specific fields of art an official platform with which they can showcase their art.

Chu’s favorite part about Horizons is how people tend to surprise themselves with what they are able to do. “I love seeing someone who was maybe a little bit nervous about sharing share something,” Chu said. “Everything that people create is always so beautiful and inspiring and I think it’s just really awesome to see someone who was maybe a little bit worried to share their art do so and create something amazing.” After seeing the acceptance and open-mindedness towards others’ works at Horizons, students feel more comfortable sharing their own art.

English teacher Ms. Goodrum has been the advisor for Horizons for more than a decade. She has watched the club grow and develop over the past decade, and loves the energy that the scholars of Horizons bring to the table.

“It’s such a pleasure every time it’s Tuesday at 3:45 to see people come in looking for someplace to imagine; to dream; to talk to other scholars about what they imagine and dream; to be safe knowing there isn’t a grade or a score involved in any way.” she explained. “I encourage people to come who just want to come once a month. Not that we would give them credit but the idea is that they have somewhere to be if they need to unwind. And Horizons is that place.”

In terms of the opportunities that Horizons holds for young artists, Ms. Goodrum added, “My position is to encourage potential. Sometimes I meet one-on-one with club members and talk to them about what some of their talents are and what opportunities are out there for an adolescent artist. To take things a bit further, I talk to the club about artistic happenings around New York City.”

When asked about Chu’s role in the club, Goodrum explained that, “the editor-in-chief comes up with the vision for the year. And I want to guide the editor-in-chief to make decisions that make sense for the team and hopefully help them become a role model.”

Out of all of Horizons’ accomplishments, Ms. Goodrum remarked that the most important was last year’s release party for the annual print edition, organized by the editorial staff. “We were celebrating the end of Coronavirus. We were celebrating the first publication in years,” Goodrum remembered. “We had live music, pizza, people were so happy to be there and celebrate all of the corners of art, and I would say that’s huge. That’s absolutely huge.”

In a school focused on engineering, math, and science, it may be hard for students with artistic aspirations to find a like-minded community. Brooklyn Tech only offers traditional art courses to students in the Media major, meaning that the vast majority of Tech students do not have an artistic outlet at this school, nor do they have mentorship for such activities. However, Horizons strives to serve as a safe haven for all kinds of artists to embrace their passions.

As Ms. Goodrum said, “If you’re interested in meeting other people who also love art, you should come. If you’re interested at all in being published, you should come. If you’re interested in exploring new ideas and being led by people who dream, come to Horizons.”