Yearbook Strives to Memorialize an Unprecedented Year

Yearbooks+from+previous+years+included+hundreds+of+photos+taken+on+school+grounds+that+are+now+nearly+impossible+to+compile.

Yearbooks from previous years included hundreds of photos taken on school grounds that are now nearly impossible to compile.

Victor Simionato, Staff Writer

During the last few days of school, there’s an item you see buzzing around in almost every classroom—the yearbook. Students go from period to period, gathering signatures from friends and teachers to celebrate the past year. But this year, with no picture days and few in-school events, the yearbook staff is exploring new techniques to memorialize the year of the pandemic.

To adapt to the online environment, the yearbook staff is gathering material via now rare in-person events like sports games and through community submissions using apps like Yearbook Snap, which students can join with access code “jaguars.” “We hope that with Yearbook Snap we will be able to collect pictures from students to fill pages like band, orchestra, chorus, and other arts,” said Yearbook Editor-in-Chief Rachel Hirz (12).

Without a school-wide picture day because of limited use of the school building, access to student photos by the yearbook team is very limited. However, many seniors were able to take pictures earlier this year and can even submit baby pictures using Yearbook Snap for a $5 fee paid via MySchoolBucks.

Compiling a good yearbook for this year is especially important to seniors, who are missing out on much of their final year of high school. “I want to have my last high school year in a yearbook and be able to see my friends in it,” said Antonia Woodard (12).

But while seniors seem to be very invested in the yearbook, many freshmen are more apathetic—many citing a lack of connection to their school due to not being in the building. “Buying a yearbook this year isn’t really worth anything at this point,” said Winnie Tran (9). “I don’t really care that much about it online.”