Yearbook Performs Under Pressure

Shortly prior to their deadline, the Yearbook class was 70 pages behind and in need of essential facts, images, and quotes. Two weeks later the book has been laid out and thoroughly checked, cover to cover.

The class was able to complete the two-semester-length project by their deadline. Senior editor Stephanie Tsung said she’s very proud of the work they’ve done in the yearbook’s last weeks before completion.

“It took a lot of late nights. We actually ended up staying outside of school hours a lot of the time to get work done,” Tsung said.

The Yearbook class has four editors responsible for the greater organization of the book as well as assigning pages to the other staff members. This year, those editors are Tsung, senior Ginger Gardner, senior Seb Ford, and senior Aoife Cain.

“The four of us were up against a pretty tight deadline. I think we really showed a lot of teamwork in our last two weeks, I’d attribute that to a lot of our success,” Gardner said.

Cain said the editors worked more closely than usual with the less experienced members of the staff to complete pages more efficiently. She said that her fellow editor Ford was especially instrumental in the completion of the yearbook. 

“I think Seb really shined out of all the editors, I don’t think our team could work quite as well without him,” Cain said.

Along with his editorial duties, Cain said Ford takes a large number of the photos needed for the yearbook.

“I’m happy we were able to get it all done in time. Mrs. McCauley was super helpful throughout, I really appreciated her,” Ford said.

Staff writer Eric Olaru-Hagen said that the final images and information needed to finish the book was coverage of the Piedmont Bird Calling Contest.

“After the Bird Calling Contest ended, we were able to take those photos and facts and put them in the book as sort of one of the final pieces of the puzzle,” Olaru-Hagen said.

Olaru-Hagen said that as yearbook staff, he was impressed with the speed and effort with which the editors laid out pages, and their leadership in the class showed more clearly than ever.

“It’s really when you come up against a sharp deadline like this that you learn to work together. Seeing how hard everyone works when we’re all really focused on the same goal is pretty amazing,” Olaru-Hagen said.

Yearbooks will be distributed to students before the end of the school year.