The annual yearbook is a staple of the high school experience. It’s a near all-encompassing feature of all things high school. Students are always excited to search through it and find where they or their friends are featured. It celebrates and documents moments and students throughout the year, from sports events to students’ hobbies. 

On Thursday, May 12, after yearbooks were distributed by last name, a yearbook signing party commenced in the cafeteria starting at 2 p.m. There was music and socializing echoing through the cafeteria. Students had a chance to look through their new yearbooks and reminisce over the school year, signing each other’s yearbooks as the school-year winds down and the seniors prepare to take their final exams. 

This year the yearbook staff, and the student body as a whole, welcomed the return of the full yearbook experience, rather than the limited ability for reporting during virtual school over the 2020-2021 school year. 

“It was harder doing it online last year because most people wouldn’t answer the emails back. and it was hard to get answers from certain people,” said senior De’Azia Rushing, who was on the yearbook staff last year and this year. “But this year it was easier because you could go to classes to get interviews and get photos of people. I like it way more in-person.” 

You may have met someone in the yearbook staff featuring you in a story or photographing your class sometime this year. The yearbook staff attended Loy Norrix sports, extracurricular and social events throughout the year to write stories, along with writing stories during school hours. During school hours, the staff works on the yearbook as their third hour class, with English teacher Brianna English as the yearbook supervisor.

“Normally we make groups of three people, and then we divide who’s gonna focus on what per spread, depending on what topic,” said senior Isabela Neves Cordeiro about the process of working on the yearbook. “You can choose between taking the photos, getting the big articles, writing the stories for each page, and the mods or do the layout.” 

Depending on the topic, writing stories for the yearbook often involves featuring the thoughts of the student body. “Interviewing people is nice because you get to know their opinion and talk to a lot of people, so it’s nice to get to know people,” said Neves Cordeiro.

Working on the yearbook also necessitates a lot of organization to make sure everything goes smoothly. 

“This year there were more responsibilities than my first year,” said senior and yearbook editor-in-chief Cassidy Conley. “I had to kind of make the copies for each divider. I had to kind of organize each team and meet with each team to make sure things got done. I was working more closely with Ms. English than probably any of the other staff.”

Now that the yearbook is complete, the staff were excited to celebrate their teamwork at the signing party.

 “This year, I like that everyone seems very close. We’re all more friendly with each other and interact with each other more instead of just layout is layout, photographers are photographers, copywriters are copywriters, we all kind of work in teams,” said Conley.

Despite the signing party being over, there are still some yearbooks for sale for $65 in room K-3.