Every June, students get to reminisce on the past year thanks to the yearbook. However, most people don’t realize what all goes into making the book they love so much. From rushing for picture deadline to writing articles, it takes an entire group to produce the yearbook.

The NASH yearbook, Safari, truly begins with the leadership of English teacher Ms. Sarah Tallerico, who has directed the class since last year. She ensures everyone is on task and ready to deliver the best yearbook possible come spring.

“When students open the yearbook, they should be able to feel all of the emotions of an entire school year. As they’re flipping through the pages, I want them to remember all of the great times they had during the school year,” Tallerico said. 

Yearbook students devote untold weeks and months of their time to ensure that the book is a representation of the entire student body. When it’s time to start the book, there are 252 blank pages staring back at them, and it’s then up to the class to get to work covering the year as a whole.

“Most people don’t understand how we truly start from scratch each year,” Tallerico said. “It’s up to us to take the pictures, interview the student body, write the stories, and design the pages. It’s a lot to accomplish, and I wish people understood how much work goes into it.” 

Senior Taryn Brodine, a student in the yearbook class, shared what it’s like to be a leader in creating the book everyone is excited to receive.

“It takes journalism and writing skills in order to create the story on every page,” Brodine said. “There always needs to be a good photographer or two on the staff in order to get original photos for spreads. Collaboration is also a huge part of creating the book, since we are constantly sharing ideas and solutions with our team.”

Teamwork is the driving force of the class. No matter what, no one can do it all by themselves.

“[It takes] a lot of dedication and motivation. [It] also [takes] a lot of teamwork because you are constantly working with different people to create and finish different spreads,” said senior Reagan Condo.

There are some difficult situations that come with making the yearbook, among them the challenge of contacting good sources.

“It is always a challenge obtaining quotes and information from students about various events,” Brodine added. “Oftentimes, people don’t know what goes into creating a yearbook, so they feel no need to help us out by providing a quote or photo within our given deadline.”

The most rewarding part of the yearbook comes at the end of every school year, when Tallerico and her student staff get to see the student body’s excitement. The class always looks forward to what everyone says about the yearbook, the final result of a months-long effort.

“It’s going to be a great school year, which means we’re going to have a great book to share with everyone,” said senior staffer Archie Treater.