Oakdale Publications is fighting to keep traditions high. Yearbooks are a fun and popular way to hold memories throughout an entire lifetime. Showing family members and eventually one’s children who they were at their age, yearbooks keep moments alive. That is why Publications is working hard to provide a memorable yearbook despite the craziness of this year.

Sienna Carey, a Senior publications member at Oakdale stated, “Publications is collecting pictures of students from home participating in virtual activities that the school has set up.” They are hoping to show off new perspectives from students in their different home lives, a new feature that previous years wouldn’t have been able to provide.

Senior superlatives are also a huge hit as they show the vibe one has given off during their four years of high school. Superlatives will go as expected, Publications will post a forum to vote candidates for each trait, as “we all have grown up together in person, ” Carey states.

Another popular aspect featured in the yearbook are the sports and player highlights. As sports seasons are still up in the air, another Senior Publication member, Taylor Farina, voiced, “{Our} approach is to try and get some pictures from the Return To Play sessions.” A time of short practices for each sport to warm up their skills and conditioning while awaiting decisions on sports seasons from the county. Lastly, later in the year they hope to conduct player interviews during the Spring.

Students have also been left wondering about club recognition through pictures and highlights of projects held by SGA, class clubs, and many others. Farina explains, “We are dividing the yearbook into seasons this year rather than the typical spread.” 

Publications will incorporate club efforts per season, for example, “leadership projects can go into the summer season.”

Finally, class pictures are the infamous way to capture development and changes in appearance throughout the years of high school. Farina exclaimed their efforts to keep this the main feature of the yearbook by hosting individual class pictures in the Spring through “social distancing protocol similar to senior portraits,” completed this summer.

Despite all of the feelings students have experienced due to a lack of a school year, Publications does not plan to let the memories go unforgotten and will provide a yearbook as good as any other year, believing it may be better as all of these new features offer a new side to the yearbook for students from home. Don’t forget to buy yours and support their efforts!