Redwood’s 2018-2019 yearbook was finally released just last week, and there has been much talk about this 64th edition. The Log assembly had a different concept this year, but the star of the show still remained to be the release of the yearbook, which was made evident with the name of the assembly being titled as “The Log”. There was much anticipation going around the campus these past few weeks with this farewell assembly being the last, so Yearbook was evidently feeling the pressure to satisfy the expectations of the student body. It’s easy and can be described as aesthetically pleasing to look at this significant event from the surface, but what truly matters is what goes on behind the scenes.
Creating this yearbook certainly does have the same feel as having a full-time job. There are three chief editors of The Log, but having 6 hands doesn’t make the building of this book any easier. The editors had numerous responsibilities with their heavy roles as leaders. Helen Webb, ‘19, who is one of the chief editors explained some of the duties she and her two partners had with their lead roles. Webb said, “As chief editors, the responsibilities we had were to design spreads for every week, create/edit the cover and other special pages of the book (such as the intro page and the divider pages). For our staff, We knew that it was our responsibility to teach them the value and importance of creating a good and memorable book, as well as stay on top of them to ensure that there was valuable coverage for the week.”
Focusing on the roles of the chief editors of Yearbook, there are endless stories to share about how the yearbook was created and finalized. Last year, the yearbook team had some trouble with the development of the theme of the book because of the planning being too late. This was a fear for this year’s editor team, which they counteracted by creating the theme and general concept of the 2018-2019 yearbook early on; even before the school year started. Justin Carrasco, ‘19, who is one of the three chief editors shared their story of the development the book and said, “ [We met] up multiple times since the beginning of the summer to develop a game plan for the book and how its theme would come into play. Another one of our bigger struggles was the fact that we had the concept and the direction for the book down solid, but we just couldn’t create a proper name for it that would encapsulate our vision.”
This second struggle was also overcame through many discussions and contemplation. At the end, the editors agreed to focus on the “behind-the-scenes” aspects of all of the events that occur at and related to Redwood. All of the design elements the chief editors created and all of the ideas they developed can be found on almost every page of the yearbook. Carrasco continued and said, “We were also able to get a “Closer Look” article on every page (except for special weeks such as Cowhide) and we never strayed from our concept and its application, and I’m very proud of that because overall the book feels very wholistic and summative of the 2018-2019 school year at Redwood.”
Overcoming adversity enhances the pride that one feels afterwards. The challenges that the editor team faced and defeated serves as a prime example of this statement. Sabrina Bianco, ‘19, the final chief editor, shared what she was most prideful in throughout the whole process of creating the book. She said, “What I’m most proud of is how hard the yearbook staff worked this year. We were challenged with a smaller class, but everyone stepped up and was committed to creating a beautiful yearbook.” Bianco believes that being apart of the yearbook team has played a crucial role in her high school experience as a whole, and she wanted to help share everyone else’s experience through the yearbook. The editing staff has expressed their gratefulness of being able to write this sort-of “final story” for the senior class and how much of an honor it is for them, and they’re really glad they got to be one of the spearheads on such a big project.
At the end, the three chief editors expressed their utmost gratitude towards their team, their advisor, and Redwood as a whole. Here are some final words from Carrasco, who became a spokesperson and shared some words on the behalf of his fellow chief editors; he concluded his thoughts and said, “I want to thank our advisor, Mr. Feehan, for being the responsible adult that our staff desperately needed when creating the yearbook. I also want to thank our representative from Jostens, Beth Olson, for being a queen. Finally, thank you to Redwood High School for giving the yearbook staff enough outstanding content to cover, and for giving me the opportunity to make such wonderful memories in just a tiny yearbook classroom.”
Tags: 2018-2019, 2019, a closer look, humans of redwood, Redwood, redwood high school, visalia ca, yearbook