It’s week number five of the school year, and for many people, it still feels like summer was a short time ago. Students can share the common eery feeling of not being in “full swing” yet. Many classes are still in their introductory units, and the workload hasn’t fully increased, meaning that the big projects haven’t begun yet.

However, all the classes still have to meet, and the yearbook is no exception, so what do they do when they don’t have many events to cover?

Well, class works as a “boot camp,” meaning that students are taught the responsibility of producing a yearbook and the many skills required to do so. This includes, (but is not limited to), the basics of photojournalism, interviewing, and how to design yearbook spreads. 

This is treated with all the seriousness necessary to make sure that the students know how to do these things and cover events without help, although yearbook manager, Selena Huggins, tries to make it fun as well. 

Huggins, managing her second Wilsonville yearbook, (in addition to the seven under her belt at Boulder Creek High in Anthem, Arizona), has various fun ways to teach, like using a crossword to make learning many foreign printing terms less boring. 

Also, because of the relative lack of activities at this point, Huggins can spend more time on the team-building activities done on the first day of school at all grade levels. An example of this is when one day, the class tried to stack cups using rubber bands. Sophomore, Grant Alverson, enjoyed the experience, saying it was, “Fun to work as a team.” 

Teamwork is emphasized a lot in yearbook class, with the class spending a day writing a paragraph about the difference between a group and a team in the first week of school. 

Huggins says that this is because the yearbook is, “A really big project,” and if students don’t cooperate, it simply, “Will not get finished.” 

There is also something special about this yearbook as well because this is Wilsonville High School’s 30th academic year. While not “old” as schools go, Wilsonville has changed a lot, and the yearbook intends to highlight how it has grown.

After many months of thoughtful prep and teamwork, yearbook hopes to produce a well-rounded, inclusive, and fun guide for the school year of 2024-2025.