When the the school year approaches its final months, students anxiously anticipate the arrival of the The Santaluces Annual yearbook – The Calumet. The current price of the yearbook is $75, but will increase in the coming weeks.
On distribution day, excited students will receive their yearbooks by going to Ms. Fouchet’s room. Teachers and students will open the book and search through more than 180 pages looking for pictures of themselves, interesting quotes, and features of their sport, club, or activity.
The Santaluces yearbook staff of 36 has covered numerous sports, clubs and activities around the school. Senior Rich Zephirin is senior Editor-in-Chief and played a crucial role in making it all happen.
“We as a staff collaborated very well with the idea and distinctively chose specific photographers to cover every sport precisely,” Zephirin said. “In my opinion I think this yearbook is the best we’ve ever had. My staff worked tirelessly to make it as perfect as possible and I’m very confident that it will sell more than our goal.”
The yearbook does not come together quickly, though. There were hours and hours that students spent writing, taking photographs, editing and picking a desirable layout for the new yearbook.
“There are many members of our Calumet that know the definition of teamwork,” said Adviser Ms. Fouchet, who worked on the yearbook when she was a student at Santaluces. “They understand it is not a one man job. Every day they come in dedicated to getting our book done. There is no way we would have been able to reach our goals if we didn’t have members that went over and above for us.”
Most students are unaware that yearbook is more than just a class, as it requires hours away from the classroom. Yearbook is basically an extracurricular activity on its own.
Junior Carolina Salinas spent her time attending events and proofreading.
“I have been to countless events and I have done a lot of work catching grammar errors,” Salinas said. “It was a staff effort though, I can’t take all the credit.”
The theme for the yearbook is different every year and is always selected by the staff. In the past few years, themes have included “#Trending,” “Did it. Said it. Noted it. Quoted it,” and “All in a Flash.” The yearbook staff works hard to create a new and unique theme and keeps it under the wraps until the day the books are released.
Senior Nhuy Nguyen believes the students will enjoy this year’s theme.
“I think the students are going to like it because it is bold and unprecedented,” Nguyen said. “It really represents the heart of Santaluces and our Chiefs.”
And Chiefs across campus are eagerly awaiting the late April release.
“I’m really excited to get my last yearbook,” said senior Maria Martinez. “I really wanted to buy this year’s yearbook because I want to be able to remember my senior year memories.”
Compared to the elementary and middle school yearbooks, the high school yearbook is a big change and it holds higher expectations. Expectations include attempting to restore the Santaluces yearbook to the peak of its popularity and to win awards for the school.
Junior Editor Widney Theligene believes this year’s yearbook delivers on the expectations.
“In the beginning of the year we set a goal and stopped at nothing to achieve it,” Theligene said. “There were derailments along the way, but we as a staff did not let that get in the way of creating something amazing.”
Yearbooks are a great way to look back at the past and remember what went on throughout the school year. Most students just look through the yearbook, but only a few realize how much effort goes into creating it.
