Students and staff at Los Osos High School look forward to the day we get to open the yearbook and flip through all the pages that display the core moments from throughout the year.
But, what one might not think about is that this very creation is the ultimate group project. Hours, days, and weeks are spent on compiling heaps of photos, information, and memories for and about the entire school to look back on as the years pass.
This responsibility is not just handed to anyone, however. The members of the yearbook team are outgoing and motivated, while the leader of this sleuth, Lori Rannis, is just as determined to create what she describes to be “like running a small business where students learn teamwork and communication skills as well as creativity and design skills.”
Rannis is a math teacher here at LOHS (Los Osos High School) and this will be her eighteenth year in charge of developing the yearbook!
She explains her role as a mentor to students to be her “favorite part” of the day as she supports her class in aspects including “theme development, content organization, photography, layout design, and meeting publication deadlines.”
She also empowers her staff to “take ownership of the creative process”, while she ensures the team stays on task.
But this encouragement is not all it takes to run this team of young photographers and writers, Rannis reports that overcoming challenges that come with the students’ ages comes into play. Challenges like procrastination habits make meeting the due dates especially difficult. These due dates, though, are not just suggestions, as they can affect the budgets and money cuts.
Rannis says that this “adds extra pressure to keep everyone on task and ensure that the project stays on schedule without compromising quality.”
On another note, teamwork amongst the students is a crucial part of conceiving this “student-driven project” as Rannis calls it.
She says that “encouraging collaboration is all about creating a positive and engaging environment.”
Rannis’s drive and determination is shown through her insightful descriptions of the effort, teamwork, and accountability that is needed to create this project for the school.
One of the staff members, Zaire Morris, is a junior here at LOHS. Morris is a student in yearbook and has been since her freshman year.
Her commitment to this role is undeniably admirable and her responsibility as an editor is beyond respectable.
A typical day of these responsibilities includes “checking in with those [she is] overseeing on how their pages and/or signatures are going.” Then, she will “work on any revisions that need to be made” in the yearbook. Occasionally, she’ll also “go run errands for Mrs. Rannis”
Morris does not take these responsibilities for granted, though. She describes her position to be “an opportunity to communicate to the student body” as she “captures memories for people to look back on way beyond high school.”
These messages from the advisor, Rannis, and an editor, Morris, exemplify the endeavors that go into producing such a masterpiece that will impact a wide audience.