By: Grace Shin

Publication students dedicated a year to creating the best yearbook for students, but along the way they learned more than they expected.

Rachel Kim, sophomore designer, emphasized the unique agenda of the class. “It was my first year being involved with the yearbook production and I found it really interesting. I have never been in a class like this, so at first the process was really confusing. I learned how to use Photoshop and InDesign to create a yearbook spread.”

Rachel also gave glimpses on the tight schedule everybody had to follow, “The whole class was divided into seven teams. Each team was designated several spreads of the yearbook. They had to design, write, or take photos. I was in team seven. We had this huge project where we had to do the entire elementary  from the Early Learning Center (ELC) to Fifth grade.  All of the pages were due on the same day so I couldn’t procrastinate. If I did, then I would have to do it all in one week, and that was impossible. I guess keeping up on the due dates really helped me catch up with the hectic production of the yearbook.”

Sophomore, Noah Yun, also underscored deadlines as crucial for this class. “My experiences during class were terrific. I worked every class to get my designs finished as quickly as possible. I now understand how important deadlines are. My work has to be done and given to a photographer and writer so they can finish the rest of the page. If I am not done, then my other team members could not complete their work. If they are not done, then the page is not done, and when the whole page is not done, the yearbook is not done.”

Noah additional commented on  how time management was very important to the yearbook team. “Since all of this was due by third quarter for the test print, it resulted in me having to work quickly; it was a motivational booster.”

Jaho Koo,  one of the News Editors of the Yearbook reflected on his role in the class “I try to contribute in anyway to the teams. If someone needs me to do something I am happy to do it. I write articles like any other writer, but sometimes I am given additional tasks to edit articles.” Jaho ellaborated on the editing process and his responsibiliteis, “mostly I look over the articles written for their grammar mistakes; sometimes, its more complicated like structural mistakes.  Also, on certain weekends, called ‘Editors Night’, the editors would sleep in in the school.  It’s basically like a sleepover, but we are working the whole time. Mrs. Lozano would write on the board pages we were responsible for editing and when we finished we would cross them out.”

During editing nights the editors, Jaho Koo, Jamie Kim, Sujee Hyun, Eric Han, and Jeff Jung would go through their assigned pages and , complete, edit, or redo yearbook pages. The editors  are considered vital to the success of the yearbook.

Jaho elaborated on how he had developed throughout his two years in publications class. “Last year I mostly worked by myself, but this year, my role allowed me to work with more people, even some of the younger students in the classroom. I feel like I am trusted to do more things in this class.

The yearbook will be distributed to the upper secondary students on May 23, and the counseling office and Mrs. Lozano are currently accepting applications for the 2013-2014 publications class.