Since the late 1800s, yearbooks have become an essential element in representing a school’s past and present. The book reveals highlights of the school year and usually categorizes all aspects of the school into 4 sections; including, student life, sports, academics, and individual student and staff mugshots.

  The yearbook class on campus is responsible for all of the work that goes into putting the book together for the entire school to purchase. During the beginning of the school year, weeks were put into training the students joining the class this year to understand how to work on a spread for the book. Soon after that, they all officially began to work on the book that has been a process in the works for months.

  This year, a new teacher took over the classroom and became advisor of the yearbook team and other media classes on campus. Ms. Prado has done her best to compile all of the experience she has gained in both yearbook camp and jobs, and put it into the classroom; through this, she has inspired students to work hard to make this yearbook be as good as it possibly can be.

  “As the advisor, I feel like I’m keeping everyone accountable and trying to keep them engaged, inspired, and ready to go everyday. I make sure that we’re getting what we need to get done because people paid for this book,” expressed Prado.

  Every year, a new staff takes place of the previous one and a new family is created from the members. Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors are all welcome to sign up and join, with the only requirement being a paper application. First time yearbook staffer, Janet Chavez (11), was one of the many to be newly introduced into the class.

  Through trial and error Chavez has learned the inside and outs of creating a perfect spread. When it comes close to deadlines, she makes sure she’s able to arrange time or ask someone to take photos for a spread she’s assigned. A wash of relief washes over her though when she’s passed the photos onto the page and is able to move on to everything else.

  “It’s my first time in yearbook and I really wasn’t prepared for all the work at first. But, as I got more comfortable with my classmates and asked for help whenever needed, the work became easier along the way,” explained Chavez.

  Since it is nearing the end of the year, crunch time for the staff is definitely kicking in. March 25th is the official deadline for when the entire book is needed to be done, besides the extra supplement that is put into the back of the book that highlights the events towards the end of the school year.

  One of the yearbook editors in chief, Jordyn Toscano (12), has put a lot of in and out of school time into editing the spreads done by the staff so that they can be submitted into the plant. Last deadline, she put a solid 12-14 hours into the book at home so that the pages could be as error free as possible. With experience in yearbook, dating back to her middle school years, she knows the preparation and effort it takes to make an amazing book.

  “Making sure every person gets each part of each spread done by the deadline can be a little tedious. It’s definitely time consuming to edit them all with my co editors, but it can be a lot of fun too,” said Toscano.

  Although the book isn’t completely finished as of right now, future editors and Prado are already looking forward to attending a workshop on the 29th of April in order to plan the 2020 yearbook. Until then though, they are awaiting the completion of this years book.

  More than half of the school purchases a yearbook every year and with the hefty price tag, lots of time and patience is put into the making of it to make sure it’s worth every penny. With book distribution rolling around in May, both the yearbook staff and people on campus cannot wait to get their hands onto the creation and appreciate the beauty of the staff’s hard work and dedication.