Maddy Stout looks down at her phone to see a text from yearbook adviser Karla Sprague and feels a sense of relief. The yearbook has reached the highest title for the 2018-19 volume. The yearbook earned an All American rating along with four Marks of Distinction.

Stout was the yearbook editor last year with Micheal Turcios who graduated last year. The Mark of Distinctions that were earned are photography, design, writing, and coverage. This is huge to Stout because the 2017-18 yearbook also earned All American with three Marks of Distinction.

“That means not only was our book really good but those outlets were some of the highest scoring out of the All American books that got it,” Stout said.

Stout and Turcios were both extremely dedicated to the book. There were also many strong staff members.

“I think it gives me a lot of confidence to know that what we are capable of doing is some of the best work, so no matter what happens we know what we’re doing,” Stout said. “And then I think it gives our newcomers a little bit of pressure.”

The returning staff members are now able to move forward this year with confidence. Yet some new members of staff feel more pressure because there are now higher standards.

“We have to like really coexist with our photographers and caption writers to make sure that we get all the material that we need to design our pages,” former student life designer senior Alex Almaraz said.

According to Almaraz, the staff must work together and communicate to accomplish the page designs.

“Coming in as a sophomore and getting that mark just meant a lot and helps my self-confidence a bunch,” junior photo editor Addison Whitney said.

Whitney is photo editor again; her goals are to be more organized and teach the new members how to take better pictures. She even has a notebook full of tips from conventions she attended last year. This will help members take better pictures.

“The mark of photography means that what I did actually helped the book get to that and be one of the best in the nation,” Whitney said.

Whitney only worked on the photography part of the book.

“It’s just something that I’ve always loved and just very peaceful and it’s something that is exciting to me,” Whitney said.

Photography is something Whitney has always enjoyed. She uses her own camera that she got around 13.

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