Club Pictures, Missing Socks, and a Forgotten Lunch: The Life of a Yearbook Staffer

Every morning my dad tells me to wake up before he heads off to work, but it's days like today I almost want to stay in bed and just take the day off; today was club picture day. Any regular student might see this day as opportunity to skip class for first and second block, but for Yearbook staff it means keeping kids in order, making sure students don't sneak into group pictures they don't need to be in, and attempting to stick to the schedule so every club gets their picture taken.

Once I wake up, I slowly get my stuff together for the day. I run through the list of things I have to bring in my mind: L.O.V.E dress, Vocal Ensemble dress, character shoes, and camera bag. By the time I had gathered everything, my grandparents were already outside our house waiting in the car. I rushed outside in my rolled up jeans and Yearbook shirt from sophomore year and squished in the middle seat of the vehicle. After we started rolling down the street, it dawned upon me that I completely forgot to pack a lunch. Great. Thankfully, my sister gave me 5$ to spend to get me through the day for lunch or snacks.

We arrived at school just as the doors opened, hopped out of the car, and walked through the doors towards the commons area. All three of us (my sister, brother, and I all attend the same school, same grade) split off to go chat with our friends once inside. I was instructed yesterday by my Yearbook teacher to meet to prepare for club pictures at 8:00 in the back of the commons area, so I had about fifteen minutes before needing to go help set up for the first part of the day. I chatted with some of my church friends at their normal center table in the cafeteria and then ventured onward to hopefully meet up with the staff members who were helping. I stood in the supposed meeting place for a while, then eventually ended up texting our group message to figure out why I was the ONLY one standing around in that area. Another person replied to my text informing me that they were all in the big gym, so that's where I headed.

I walked in and slung the numerous bags I was carrying into the empty bleachers and started the day by just talking to everyone and verifying what my job was. I was assigned to help with the Fine Arts pictures in the commons, which really didn't require a lot of work. The choir risers were already set up and most every group already knew how to stand or their teacher informed them for us. Anyways, in the big gym we started to rope off the path to the gym floor so no one would step on it; at our school it is basically considered a crime to step on the gym floor if you're not wearing tennis shoes or not supposed to. During the time we were doing this, one slight wrong movement led to our teacher's almost completely full Starbucks drink splattered all over the ground. This cued lots of chaos and running back and forth to get more paper towels and dashing to get cleaning supplies before any of the clubs showed up. I walked outside of the gym to go get paper towels, but before making it to the bathroom I noticed that there was already a group of people forming in front of the risers on the far in of the commons. Oh shoot, I thought to myself, I guess I need to be over there. It was the Beginning Choir- the first Fine Arts group of the day.

Although the day seemed to drag on forever, when it was my turn to be in the pictures, time couldn't seem to slow down for a single second. I was set to be a part of six pictures: FCA (at 9:00), L.O.V.E (at 9:20), Student Council (at 9:30), Vocal Ensemble (at 9:40), E La Vita (at 10:30), and 4.0 GPA (at 11:25). The most problematic part of the whole ordeal was once we were behind on pictures, that left little to no time in between. During the Student Council picture I was wearing my L.O.V.E. dress, and right after that I had to sprint to bathroom to change into my Vocal Ensemble dress and was almost not even in it! Talk about increasing your heart rate. I was shaking and jolting over to the choir to find my position and make sure I didn't miss it. By the end of second block I was extremely tired, and I would have loved to just lie down on the floor and take a solid nap. (And at some point, I lost one of my socks. I realized that as I put my regular clothes back on.)

Overall, the day went pretty smoothly except for a few complications. I ended up eating a poptart and Cheez-Its from the vending machine when I went back up to Yearbook during lunch. I'm thankful that my job wasn't too terribly hard today, but I'm still not very excited to make up the test and work I missed because of it. We have a great Yearbooks staff filled with amazing spirits that kept me motivated throughout the day. I appreciate everyone who remained patient through it all. The flashing lights, the fading voice after yelling so many directions, the color coded clubs signs. Come next year I think I might actually miss this kind of organized chaos. 

Love always,

Allison