From year to year, the yearbook class has held the responsibility of producing a comprehensive record of the school year’s students, events, and memories. This year, however, it was one of the many classes significantly impacted by online learning.

“This year, responsibilities were split up between four groups of general members. Each group has a group leader that oversees the whole group, divides up responsibilities, and makes sure deadlines are met,” said first-time yearbook member Katy Clark (’23). 

Groups are assigned five pages to complete every month. Unfortunately, deadlines for each page were difficult to navigate, and finding content to fill the book was a challenge in and of itself. 

“This yearbook is by far the most difficult book we have ever made. Usually, we have six deadlines between October and March. However, because we had no idea if, when, and in what capacity we were coming back, we decided to do a chronological book covering fall, winter, and spring, [allowing] us to cover all of the sports that are going on as well as graduation,” said Yearbook teacher Ms. Foley. 

While students used to be able to go around school to get interviews and pictures, this year’s online format forced them to rely on Google forms, student-provided pictures, and a lot of emails.  

“It was hard to get photos and quotes from people online. I would send out Google forms to thirty different people and get two responses… People would not answer emails either, making it hard to create a connection between the interviewer and the interviewee,” said Clark (’23).

On the other hand, the shift to more individual-based work allowed for a growth in the staff’s technological capabilities. 

“[While] nothing was necessarily easier about making the book this year, by the end of it we had all gotten a lot more tech savvy, as we had had to do the designing and uploading process from our own homes for most of the year,” said copy editor Holly Fletcher (’22). 

Though team dynamic changed and group collaboration was hindered for the better part of the year, the yearbook staff was nevertheless able to push through this year’s challenging yearbook-making process. 

“Overall, yearbook is still a really fun and enjoyable class. It’s really nice to see your work pay off when all of the students get their books at the end of the year,” said Fletcher (’22).