A year’s worth
A year after starting, the Replay staff explains what it takes to create the yearbook
May 15, 2015
Two hundred and forty pages, 24 staffers and 11 worknights – all for one book. Every year, the yearbook class works on theme, stories and design to produce a book that represents the school year.
“It is cool to be able to take a look back on the year while the year is still going on,” senior editor Anthony Pangonas said. “You get to put the history down in a book.”
“Now we’re here” is the theme for this year’s Replay. The theme, which is carried throughout the book, was a way for the staff to acknowledge the move to 6A and this year’s place in school history.
“We are not new anymore, and our traditions are starting to get set we’re becoming more of a legacy,” senior Maddie Bonvillian said. “We are starting to get the air of an old school.”
Last spring, the 2014 staff brainstormed possible themes and design ideas. At journalism camp in the summer, the editors settled on the “Now we’re here” theme, and expanded on design ideas that incorporated that theme.
“We were coming up with the theme designs a little after the end of last year, trying to pick out what we wanted to do,” junior Chandler Krause said. “We went to camps this summer for designing, and staying up ridiculously late working on it, and then throughout the year we were pretty much working every single day.”
Junior Austin Brunger, senior Kymberlee Garcia, and sophomore Grace McNamara go over proofs from the first yearbook deadline.
After coming up with the theme, the staff had to design the pages, keeping in mind clubs, sports and events they needed to cover. After designing, they assigned deadlines, with each staffer receiving one to two spreads per deadline. Staffers had roughly a month for each deadline, requiring students to learn how to manage time as well as become speedy writers.
“Yearbook is stressful but fun, there is a lot that goes into the yearbook, but we know that in the end it will pay off,” sophomore Jaci Chavera said. “You have to be willing to sacrifice your time in order to get deadlines done.”
As part of their goals, the staff wanted to get every student in the book at least twice. With more than 2,300 students and only 240 pages, the staff was challenged with how to include everyone. They added quotes to the top of each page to provide additional coverage and create a whole-book link to the theme. The sidebar is called “Now you now…” and with seven to 11 quotes on each spread, the staff was able to include more than 1,000 students with the coverage.
“It was a really cool way to connect to the theme and our students,” adviser Kel Lemons said. “I love how many students it got in the book and it was amazing to see the responses. Some were silly, some were funny, and some were really serious. It goes to show that our students have so many stories to tell.”
After seven months of pages and deadlines, the staff has more than a finished book as a reward. At a recent celebration, multiple staff members remarked about how they have found new friendships and
The opening theme is a JV player on the football team.
think of the yearbook class as a sanctuary.
“The things the staffers say to one another to cheer each other up is great, and we have a quote wall with a bunch of random stuff,” Chavera said. “It’s nice to know that there are people around here who are fun but focused.”
The Replay will be handed out Wednesday, May 20 in 6201. Limited copies are still available and can be purchased for $70 in 6203. The price goes up to $75, May 20.