Meet the 2020-2021 AVHS yearbook Editor-in-Chiefs: Seniors Katelyn Donn and Serena Lin! As this school year is going to look significantly different from others, we spoke to the new yearbooks EICs to get an inside scoop on how they are planning to adapt to match the yearbook to the year. 

“I think one of the main things is that our yearbook in the past has been very section-based. So, we have it divided by people, then sports, then student life, and last, reference, so club pictures, senior ads, that kind of thing. So I think this year we’re working more of a chronological book, either by month or semester, we haven’t really decided yet. Just so we can get full coverage, and just so as Covid effects us more or less, we can capture that as well,” said Katelyn Donn (‘21). 

In previous years, yearbook staff members would often either pull students out of class to interview them on their thoughts regarding a subject personal to them, or they would utilize the 40 minute lunch period to ask students general questions. As we are starting the year remote, Donn revealed that they are shifting to more at-home outreach options. 

“For interviews, I think we’re just going to do a lot of emailing. We’re going to have to email a bunch of kids, Mrs. Foley was even talking about possibly emailing their parents, because parents are usually a lot more on top of their inboxes than their kids are. We also just started an instagram for our yearbook class, so we’re probably going to be DMing a lot of people, just reaching out and even texting people who know them. Things like that,” said Donn. 

One difference in this year’s book might be more general coverage than student-specifc information, to capture the essence of a particular topic.

“We would have a survey, and anyone who is interested in filling it out can do that, whether that be on instagram or email. In that sense, it’s more like mass-interviewing rather than interviewing individual people,” said Serena Lin (‘21). 

Sports and clubs made up a large portion of past yearbooks, but this year, coverage of sporting events and club activities may not be possible due to COVID-19. 

“I know that a lot of fall sports right now are practicing, so I think we have a few photographers who are trying to catch those practices, and they’re just keeping their distance, of course, and getting pictures of that,” said Donn.

Interestingly enough, all students are starting off the year with no new school ID, a huge difference from other years. One question on everyone’s mind is how those yearbook pictures will be taken in a safe and distanced way. 

“I don’t think we’ve actually heard much about yearbook pictures. I do know for seniors, senior pictures are still happening and students are still booking their appointments for Studio One like normal, so I’m not really sure what the necessary precautions are,” said Donn. 

Both Serena and Katelyn agree that they have to incorporate the pandemic somehow in the yearbook, though they are unclear of how much coverage they will include, and where it will appear in th book. 

“I feel like if we just had a student page within the yearbook, it would kind of…make no sense? Like, it would be unclear why the yearbook was layed out so weird that year, so we definitely have to incorporate Covid somehow,” said Lin. 

With remote learning, it will be especially tough to get sufficient content to fill a 400 page book that is meant to cover a years worth of on-campus and school affiliated activities. 

The EICs have discussed with their advisor, Julie Foley, on the impacts remote learning will have on the length and cost of each individual book. 

“We most likely won’t be able to do the regular reference section, with club photos and team photos at the end, unfortunately, so we could end up cutting out up to 100 pages of the regular sized book. However, that difference of pages doesn’t affect the pricing that much. That is also definitely not set in stone, as we haven’t officially discussed how much we’re cutting out, pricing, and what we’re able to cover yet,” said Donn. 

Though significant changes will have to be made to the creation plans of the 2020-2021 yearbook, both Editor-in-Chiefs agree that they will work their hardest with the rest of the yearbook staff to produce the best and most accurate book possible. 

“I feel like one of my goals is to have the book not be bad, just because it’s different. If we can come up with variations, and have people expect something that’s completely different rather than something based on what yearbooks used to be like, I think that’s great. Make it unique, make it something people want to look back on, rather than a worse version of what was supposed to happen,” said Lin.