Bonds beyond books

Room 1305 fills with a flurry of motion during activity period. People with cameras scurry in and out to take pictures, and from the center of the room, some of the oddest conversations in the school can be heard. Yearbook staff members with perfectly worded questions interview other students about their passions, activities and skills, pulling about little bits of interesting information out of the nervous interviewees. A soft click of a single keyboard, magnified 14 times, hums as staff members type up stories and peer edit work. Behind the well-oiled gears of this yearbook making machine stand the editors, making sure every spread, word, picture and story is perfectly placed.

The time spent together producing the 224-page book gives the staff a unique opportunity for close friendship, and yearbook adviser Laura Smith and the yearbook editors have taken full advantage of the chance. They experience a love found in the journalism room through working together to achieve a common goal.

This year’s editor team, senior Sarah Nease and juniors Macy Mitchell, Tucker Fischbacher and Kylee Khan, have been working on this year’s book since spring of the 2015-16 school year. Mitchell is associate editor while Fischbacher works as copy editor. Khan coordinates photography assignments as photography editor. Smith said building a cohesive and effective leadership team is crucial to producing an excellent product in a process that is enjoyable for the rest of the team.

“I love my editors,” said Smith, who has advised Canyon High yearbook staffs for 16 years. “They are amazing. They are a power team. They have very different strengths, but they complement one another perfectly. The editor-in-chief, Sarah Nease, provides incredibly balanced, mature leadership. She thinks ahead, she has great organization skills, she has creativity, and she has graphic design skills. She is the ultimate yearbook editor.”

Nease has been on yearbook staff for three years, but this is her second year as an editor.

“Last year I was associate editor, and this year I’m the editor-in-chief,” Nease said. “I definitely grew closer to Tucker and Macy this summer when we went to Gloria Shields, and then having third period together, going on trips to the junior high to take pictures or just working on a deadline. We’ve grown really close, and we relate to each other in our everyday lives.”

The Gloria Shields All-American Publications workshop is a week-long, intensive summer workshop in Dallas that draws hundreds of journalism students from Texas and the Midwest. Khan said going to Dallas together with all the editors and Smith was a lot of fun.

“I’ve grown a lot closer to not only Mrs. Smith but also the editors throughout working with them,” Khan said. “I think Mrs. Smith is the reason I do journalism. If I had any other teacher I probably wouldn’t have stayed in journalism. She’s fun to talk to, so she’s more of a friend than a teacher.”

Mitchell said having tough deadline days helps bring everyone closer together.

“We have a friendship that’s not just through yearbook,” Mitchell said. “We all get along through other things, and it’s just a good atmosphere to be in. Everything we’ve done has brought more opportunities for us to become a good, close-knit group of friends.”

The editors spend two to sometimes six hours a day working on the yearbook and occasionally come to school for work nights to finish deadlines.

“Deadlines are stressful, but the people in yearbook definitely make it less stressful,” Nease said. “It’s easier with group projects whether we are working on a page together we can just have fun and get work done at the same time.”

Khan said it is easier to work with people she knows well.

“It makes it a lot more fun in general,” Khan said. “I know how they work and they know how I work, so it’s a lot easier for us to get along, do everything and make everything compatible.”

Smith said she wants the editors to take skills from their staff experience that will help them no matter what they choose as a career.

“I would not have been good at graphic design unless I was in yearbook,” Nease said.  “Also I know if I take college classes and I have essays I need to write or if I need to take design classes, I already know how to use the programs and can write effectively and quickly.”

Nease said she feels like Smith has helped her in other aspects of life besides yearbook.

“She’s helped me with lots of life advice and helping me through my everyday life,” Nease said. “I see her every day, and sometimes I see her more than I see my family. She’s become a part of my family. I know Mrs. Smith has prepared me for the real world. I’m gonna be sad next year when I’m gone and won’t be able to see her every day.”