The “Arcadia” yearbook staff is finishing up pages that are to be shipped off for Monday’s final deadline.

“We just got through the hardest deadline of the year,” said senior Erin Ryan, who serves as the staff copy editor. “We had two deadlines that were two weeks apart and we had to send 40 pages for both, which was really stressful. Everyone had a million and one things to do, but we still made the deadline which was super-great. So far we have all of the people sections done and most of the chronological section is done.” 

The final Jostens deadline is March 13 and after that the seniors on staff will put together a 16-page tip-in which will be printed locally and inserted into the book when it arrives in May. The tip-in will include coverage of important events such as Prom and Wildcat Challenge which occur after the deadlines set by the yearbook publisher.

This year’s staff has gone to various locations to bring images and sections to the yearbook not yet seen before.

“Photo-wise we’ve taken a lot more personality portraits, more than ever before, Beth [Saunderson] and I have gone to barber shops, churches and people’s houses to get pictures of them in their environment,” senior photo editor Megan Mateosky said.

When the staff is done with this years book, it will plan an annual banquet and move on to next year’s book.

“Usually once the book is done and we finish the tip in, the juniors will start planning next year’s yearbook,” Ryan said. “So the cycle never ends. We are always working on yearbook. Personally, I’m just really excited for it to be done so that I can see how it looks because this year has been so stressful. I think I need to see a tangible product in order to feel like I actually accomplished something.” 

By Jerry Sola