Although The Log may look a little different this year, its completion is a testament to the strength of its staff, and their determination not just to preserve memories, but to remain connected in a year when social distance kept people apart.
Every year Visual and Performing Arts teachers Wendy Staples and Edward Hing work with a group of students to put together the yearbook. This year, like everything else, The Log had to change plans in order make a full yearbook. With limited school events, sports, and dorm activities, yearbook members had to get creative about what they filled the book with.
Senior yearbook Co-Editor Sian Lewandowski found that this year, The Log had to make changes to the content of the book and place trust in the Williston community to get photos for the book.
“We had to adapt the content, as many of the normal events where pictures would be generated could not happen because of Covid-19,” explained Sian. “The process forced us to be more reliant on the kindness of people who were willing to submit photos.”
Sian said that as a team, The Log had to think of ways to include both virtual as well as in-person events.
One of the more tedious jobs The Log has is tagging people in photos. With people wearing masks in almost every photo, the job of the yearbook staff became much more difficult.
“Having enough photos (or a good variety) has always been a struggle, even without Covid-19,” Sian said.
Due to Covid, many pages had to be cut from the yearbook. However, editors and staff members got creative on how to refill those pages and include students who were not on campus.
To do so, Sian said the yearbook cut out the “clubs” page, “as most clubs who did meet did so through Zoom, meaning there weren’t many photos available.”
Sian loves working on the yearbook, but her favorite memory from creating this year’s edition was one of the days they got to work in person with other staff members in the photo lab.
“There was one day when the Wi-Fi shut off, which effectively kept us from getting any yearbook work done,” Sian said. “While we waited for it to come back on I was able to chat and reflect on my time at Williston.”
Senior Na Kyung Lee, Editor-in-Chief of The Log, has been working for the yearbook for the past three years and has loved her experience.
“I’ve always felt so fortunate to have the opportunity of collecting the pieces of Williston every year,” Na said. “From designing to editing, we put tremendous amount of time to the book each year, but it kept me going for the past three years.”
While the Spring supplement is still being created, the main section of the yearbook is complete, and will be given out during the week of graduation. The packet will be edited from now to early summer and will be being sent to the graduated seniors over the summer. Underclassmen can find them in campus store the following year.
Hing liked that the design of the book this year was clear and relevant to this year’s class.
“I think the templates and the cover had a much stronger sense of design and integration than in past years,” Hing said. “The idea of global connectivity in the design concept really fit for this year.”
Staples, Faculty Advisor to The Log, is very happy the book got to stay the same this year and that students could make memories together during the pandemic.
“Even through a pandemic, the Williston community built memories and we were lucky enough to have close to a full year of school on campus,” she said. “That’s something to celebrate and be proud of.”