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The Making Of A Pandemic Yearbook Through The Lens Of Two Santa Clarita High Schoolers

When schools shut down in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, high school yearbook editors were forced to put together the pieces with zoom screenshots and Instagram posts. Here’s a look at how they did it through the lens of two West Ranch High School yearbook editors. 

With sports seasons canceled, classrooms empty and in-person activities shut-down, Imogen Yang and Kailyn Kennada, co-yearbook Editors-In-Chief from West Ranch High School, were working remotely, attempting to memorialize school events that would no longer be taking place. 

“I had no idea what was going to happen,” Kennada said. “When classes were first canceled, I was excited because I realized this was an opportunity to do certain ideas that I had for certain pages instead of sticking to the same thing we do every year. But it quickly became the biggest obstacle.”

Photographs, the main attraction when first receiving a yearbook, would now be much harder to come by as some sports seasons were completely canceled, having maybe one practice before stepping off the field for a full season.

“I was on the swim page and the season was completely canceled,” Yang said. “Thankfully, we had already gone on a trip where we had gotten a ton of photos and the page ended up looking really nice because they were all taken by the students, so they all looked really excited to be there.

For the first time ever, West Ranch yearbook editors were forced to rely on receiving pictures from their student counterparts, losing their typical ability to fully rely on their own photography capabilities to fill the pages, according to the editors. 

 

 

“We were able to get a lot more creative,” Kennada said. “Imogen was really able to focus on her line art and graphics and before that, we really hadn’t done too much art in the book– so that was one good thing that really came out of that book was just us starting to branch out more into art and design.”

The editors slowly watched the yearbook transform, showcasing student talents and abilities. 

“In past years on the art pages, we would usually take pictures of people doing art, but last year we were able to feature people’s actual art,” Yang said. “It’s not like it was boring before, but it was more engaging to see people’s actual work instead of a close-up of them hand drawing.”

Through connecting with students for their own photographs and artwork, the editors felt happy to “reach out to them and showcase their work and give them a little bit of recognition,” according to Yang. 

However, some pages had little to nothing to work with, according to the editors. 

“They really tried to make wellness week really big on zoom, but just nobody showed up to anything,” Kennada said. “I was going to all of these meetings and activities that they had, but there were at most three people in any of the meetings and they all had their cameras off.”

The editors emphasized a sense of urgency when it came to getting photos, because one event might be the only event for the rest of the year.

“Really there was so little to work with,” Kennada said. “The moment you realized ‘oh there’s a tournament’ or something was going on nearby it was like you have to just go and hopefully get photos, but even then that was so rare– it was definitely a big struggle getting photos.”

While the editors were able to piece together images and graphics, gathering content was not the only issue when it came to finalizing the book. 

“Because we weren’t actually in school, it was hard to control when people actually work or when they don’t work,” Yang said. ”We put people into breakout rooms (on Zoom) so we could go through and talk to everyone. There were people that had their cameras off and microphones off so it felt like I was talking to no one.”

With the 2021 and 2022 school year in-person, the two editors have been able to incorporate their newfound sense of adaptability and passion for design with full access to photograph school events.

“I think that’s kind of the best part with this year is that we can all look at it in a new way,” Kennada said. “I’m really happy with the way that our sports pages are looking and our club’s editor is doing a great job working on all of the clubs’  pages and we’re giving people a lot of opportunities to get creative.”

To see a few sneak peaks from the West Ranch High School yearbook team, click here

“Shoutout to Ian Kim, he’s like the best photographer ever,” Kennada said. “His photos really helped make the book what it is and we’re just really proud of all of us this year.”

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This story is brought to you by friends at the California Credit Union.

California Credit Union is a trusted partner of the education community and proud sponsor of the KHTS Education Corner, KHTS Sacramento Road Trip, SCV Education Foundation and the WiSH Education Foundation to support programs that directly aid students and teachers throughout Santa Clarita Valley. California Credit Union is a federally insured, state-chartered credit union founded in 1933 that serves public and private school employees, community members and businesses across California. California Credit Union offers a full suite of consumer, business and investment products and services, including exclusive services for school employees, comprehensive consumer checking and loan options, personalized financial planning, business banking and leading‐edge online and mobile banking. For more information contact Mariam Nasiry, Senior School & Community Development Officer at MNasiry@ccu.com. You may also visit our local Valencia Branch located at 24343 Magic Mountain Pkwy., Santa Clarita, CA 91355, or any of our 25 locations throughout Southern California. Learn more about Californica Credit Union at www.ccu.com and follow the credit union on Instagram® or Facebook® @CaliforniaCreditUnion. Ready to open an account today? Click to Here to Apply!


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The Making Of A Pandemic Yearbook Through The Lens Of Two Santa Clarita High Schoolers

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About Rachel Matta

Born and raised in Santa Clarita, Rachel Matta has always had a love for writing and media. The first time she ever smiled was actually while she was laying next to her mom as she flipped through the pages of a magazine. Upon graduating from high school in 2019, she chose to major in both journalism and political science at College of the Canyons with the intention of concentrating in news reporting. She began her journey at KHTS as a news intern in the summer of 2020 and officially joined the newsroom in the spring of 2021, intending to move forward with compassion and inquisition.