Yearbook staff works to represent entire student body in book

Katherine Lindgren

More stories from Katherine Lindgren

Each school year is filled with events, memories and new people. The yearbook staff works to capture these moments in the pages of their publication to be remembered for years to come. The finished product itself does not give away how hard the staff works behind the scenes to make sure each page is perfect.

“Once we make the pages, we pretty much have to make it all over again once we proof it. We go through each page three or four times and are constantly changing things to make it look better,” senior Max Karst said.

The staff begins their work at the start of the school year, and work through the following summer to cover everything that goes on inside and outside of school. While Robin Montano serves as the yearbook advisor, the publication is completely planned, designed and edited by students.

“It’s really fun to start something by planning out everything, and then working on it all year to see the finished product in your hand, knowing that you created it 100%,” Karst said.

With the wide range of athletics, activities, clubs, class activities and events going on during the school year, it can be difficult to balance busy schedules with yearbook assignments.

“The most challenging thing is photo coverage, because we don’t have a lot of great photographers, and I know if I try to go get photos, they aren’t going to be the best. Not a lot of people are always able to go out, because we’re all really busy,” senior Emily Robinson said.

Another challenge is making sure to represent every student equally.

“We have a coverage report that says how many times we’ve used somebody, so we really do try to cover the whole school. We can see if there’s somebody who isn’t in the book, and we’ll go interview them and try to get them in it. We really try to include everyone.”

Both Karst and Robinson are three-year staff members, and are part of a group of nine seniors on staff. Over their years together, the students have bonded not only as co-workers, but as friends.

“I think we’ve all gotten a lot closer. Sophomore year, I didn’t really know people, like Alaze and Kayla, very well, but now I count them as some of my really close friends. We went to LA together, we’ve done so many different things, and we’re all really good friends now. It’ll be sad to leave everyone,” Robinson said.

Through late work nights, stressful deadlines and countless rounds of editing, the staff comes together to produce a final product that represents the school year as a whole.

“My favorite part is working together as a staff to create something that we’re all a part of. It’s how we’re going to remember our high school career.” Karst said.