Many students bade farewell to the yearbook advisor of previous years, Mrs. Carswell, when she left our school. This year’s 2022-2023 yearbook staff is led by English teacher Ms. Mathis in her classroom, 3-106. In addition to her English classes, she has also taken on the challenge of meeting deadlines to formulate a memorable yearbook for students.

Before teaching at OCSA, 8 years ago, Ms. Mathis was the yearbook advisor for the after-school club at Gateway Highschool. However, OCSA’s yearbook staff takes part in the elective class instead of meeting after the day’s final bell. Ms. Mathis reflects on her experience. “This is a lot better to have it as a class, I would say, and we have more time and more focus on the yearbook.”

OCSA, as a school for fine arts, will have a different yearbook compared to a normal public school. To give the yearbook flair, Ms. Mathis plans to combine the theme with artistic elements. “A theme is something that maybe not all schools would get, but here it makes sense for what our school culture is like,” she stated.

When asked about the added responsibility, she replied, “I feel like it is a lot of work, but I have really wanted to take it on, so the seniors have a great yearbook this year.” There’s often a lot of “down to the wire” work and “so many unknowns” to consider as yearbook advisor. As of late, the staff has met their deadlines and is doing their best to make sure everybody is buying the yearbook. Despite digital platforming, the yearbook is pricey because since printing it costs a significant amount of money.

Students who can use editing to organize a theme are essential to the yearbook staff. New to the staff this year is Momo Sutton, and for her it has thus far been “very chill, just make sure that you turn in your pages before the deadline.” Both her and Ms. Mathis mention a fondness of combining structure with creativity that ultimately fabricates our yearbook. This harmonization of ideas between teacher and student is vital to the enduring success the yearbook staff has had.