Year extended for yearbook seniors

The yearbook staff works together with their Jostens representative to create a cover for the 2020-2021 yearbook. Staff members go over all aspects of the book including picking out the overall theme. The editor also has to pick fonts for everything including layouts, stories, etc.

Photo Courtesy Julie Barker

The yearbook staff works together with their Jostens representative to create a cover for the 2020-2021 yearbook. Staff members go over all aspects of the book including picking out the overall theme. The editor also has to pick fonts for everything including layouts, stories, etc.

The end of the 2020-2021 school year is coming to an end. For seniors, the end of the school year finally happened. Their last day was May 19, but co-editors Grace Willmott and Isabel Harrold will continue to help finish the book. 

Completing a yearbook can be challenging since the entire book takes a year to create. The yearbook staff has much to do since they cover almost everything that takes place throughout the school year including sports, academics, student accomplishments and other important events that take place.

“We write stories together, we take pictures for each other’s pages and work together on other design projects,” Willmott said. “Being the editors, it’s important for us to be here and help keep everybody going through the last two weeks of finishing the yearbook.”

Losing seniors a week and a half before the end of the school year can be stressful especially for the yearbook staff. Losing a staff member, and in this case, three staff members make it much harder for the rest of the staff to finish and give the yearbook to the entire school.

“In the past years, I’ve had concerns that the seniors would actually come back or not,” said yearbook adviser Julie Barker said. “I don’t have that same concern this year. These girls have already been here. They’re working; they know what needs to be done.”

Graduating from high school is a big deal, and coming back to help the class finish something they have been working on for a full school year shows the determination of these staff members. With a class such as a yearbook, and the hard work it takes to finish the yearbook, editing every detail, allows finishing high school an even bigger accomplishment. 

“I will miss the people, and the bonding experience that took place,” Isabel Harrold said. “It doesn’t feel like a normal class; it feels like a club that we got to be in.”

Leaving something that these staff members have been doing for three years can be hard for both the students and the adviser. It’s different when staff members leave the yearbook class because it is a continuous class that allows the staff to interact with the whole school through photographs, and putting a spotlight on memories for people to remember and enjoy.

“They are just fun kids, and they work hard, and I will miss them,” Barker said. “The book can be pretty stressful at times, but they’ve had a good way of making us laugh, and I will miss their dedication.”