The first yearbooks date all the way back to the 17th century on the East Coast. People would sign scrapbooks of pictures, flowers and newspaper articles of the year. 

This created the idea for the yearbook as it is today. The Bowie yearbook has been advised by Lindsey Shirack for five out of the 33 years Bowie has been open. 

“This is my twelfth year advising yearbook and my fifth year at Bowie. I worked at Gorzycki for seven years before Bowie and advised the yearbook, newspaper, broadcast and online,” Shirack said.

Last year being virtual has affected the yearbooks production process then affected the production of this year’s yearbook. Shirack mentioned how this year is a slower building phase than other years.   

“We are finishing the ramp-up phase right now with students training and then testing out to get on the book. With last year being virtual, we are a little off our normal timeline, but closer to normal than we were last year,” Shirack said.

Kristian Jeffus is the Editor-in-Chief wand she has been on the Yearbook staff  for four years. Jeffus expressed what made her want to start taking yearbook classes in the first place. 

“My good friend who was one grade above me told me that it was a really good class to take, so I took yearbook one freshman year and have been taking it every year since then,” Jeffus said. 

She said she has made many great memories in the class. Jeffus describes what her most memorable experience in the yearbook has been. 

“My most memorable experience in Yearbook was when I found out I was an Editor-in-Chief this year,” Jeffus said. “I and the other EIC Lizzie were in our anatomy class together and we received a letter which is how Ms. Shirack told us we were the EICs. We both squealed and were so excited.” 

 Jeffus also has memorable events that happened outside of the class. 

 “The one thing that made me want to stay in the class during sophomore year was the fact that we had a framed picture of Mason Ramsey on the wall,” Jeffus said. “I had gone to a Mason concert that year and got to meet him and take a picture with him, which was somehow brought up in conversation with the EICs, and eventually, they asked if we could print it out and frame it. This picture is still in the front of the classroom, and every time I am stressed about making the yearbook I look at it and am reminded why I stay.”

Addisyn Simmons is a first-year yearbook student and she tells about the experiences that made her want to start taking yearbook classes in the first place. 

“I’ve always had an interest in designing things and putting together a layout so that they look nice and I knew your book and included that,” Simmons said.

Simmons explained how COVID affected the production of the yearbook this year.

“Covid affected last year’s classes in teaching students the necessary skill to make the book. Also, it affected the availability of the students for interviews this year and last,” Simmons said. 

Simmons explains why her experiences in yearbook will impact her future.

“I think I would like to continue designing things with the skills I’ve learned in yearbook in the future,” Simmons said.