Debra Klevens

The Paweshi 2012-2013 yearbook received the First Class Honor Rating in the National Schoclastic Press Association critique. The book received two marks of distinction in coverage and writing/editing. Editor in-Chief senior Megan Reilly works on the 2014 yearbook. “This year I’m going for a more sophisticated look,” Reilly said.

The PAWESEHI 2012-2013 yearbook received the First Class Honor Rating in the National Schoclastic Press Association critique. The book received two marks of distinction in coverage and writing/editing.

“This score made me feel even more confident and made me happy that I was learning so much! I feel like my hard work paid off and I can not wait to start this years book,” 2014 Editor in-Cheif Megan Reilly said.

Reilly has served on the yearbook staff for four years.

“When I found out about our rating, it occurred to me that if we hadn’t put the amount of hard work into as we did, we wouldn’t have gotten this far. It really helped me understand that its not the public acknowledgment that is the most satisfying, it’s the growing and learning we did through the whole process that makes it all worth it,” 2013 Editor in-Cheif Abby Narishkin said. 

Narishkin was on the yearbook staff all four years of her high school career.

“Overall, this is a very well-done book,” judge Anastasia Harrison said.

The 2012-2013 yearbook staff consisted of 31 students, in grades from 9-12.

“I am most proud of the staff I had last year. We were one of the closest in my four years at West. The fact that we had students from all walks of life on staff coming together for one common goal of making the product great, makes me so proud. We were focused on creating a book that means so much to so many people and I think we did it. And that only happened because of the relationships we built in that classroom. We would not have been able to achieve the coverage of the students that we did if we didn’t have those friendships amongst the staff members,” Narishkin said.

The book was critiqued on concept/essentials, coverage, design, writing and editing and photography. 

“The hardest part is just getting everything done. I not only do designs, but I also help everyone with their pages and questions and teach them new things, while doing extra work behind the scenes. I devote a lot of time into yearbook but sometimes it just really piles up and becomes highly stressful when I try to juggle everything at once. But overall, I love doing it. It’s hard at times but it’s what I look forward to doing. Plus, being stressed and taking on all these responsibilities definitely will prepare me for the future since I want to pursue a career in graphic design. So everything I work hard doing is definitely worth it,” Reilly said. 

“Maybe there are things that we could have done differently to reach that next score. But I wouldn’t have wanted to change anything in that book. It was a reflection of who we are as a school, typos and all, and I don’t think we were even working for the score, we were working to preserve the memories,” Nariskin said.

The 2012-2013 edition was the first yearbook that was printed in color.

“The yearbook being in color was a huge deal. For the first time we couldn’t have pictures of bad quality or color schemes that didn’t carry throughout the entire book. In a way we had to get the book even closer to perfection. But it was also a great opportunity. It was so fun for us to be able to play with the color idea for the theme. I think the introduction of a whole color yearbook forced us to assess how we could touch on all the senses of the readers,” Narishkin said.

The book also won sixth place in Best in Show at the Journalism Education Association Conference in Boston held on Nov. 13-17.

“I definitely think this years yearbook has potential for doing great score wise. The rest of the staff has so far produced great work and outstanding stories and I hope to keep on doing great things and that the yearbook comes out on top!” Reilly said.

This year the staff includes 40 students.

“This year I’m going for a more sophisticated look, rather than the colorful kid-friendly look. I really played up the calm soothing color palette and I definitely tried to portray the theme through simple, yet effective graphics and hopefully mind-blowing spotlight stories. I wanted it to get the point across without being totally in your face like last year,” Reilly said.