Flipping through the pages, students find the entire year frozen in time: the spirit weeks, the dances, the sports, and everything in between. Yearbook distribution was a time for students to finally get the books they’ve been eagerly waiting for since summer, and it is the perfect closing chapter of the school year. As the books were passed out and Mariners frantically swapped signatures, the yearbook was successful in documenting Pacifica throughout the year.

Maddison Maher is the copy editor of the Reef, Pacifica’s yearbook staff, and she played a crucial role in the production of the yearbook. She explains, “Making the book is a very long and tedious process. There are many things that get made, then restarted, and made, then restarted again. Every deadline is a new challenge, and learning to work with 30 different people can be difficult at times, but this year’s group was super fun to work with. In the end, it’s all worth it.” This year’s book, Feel the Beat, was especially liked by the seniors and was overall a success. When asked about this event, Maddison says, “Distribution is always the most awaited event in the yearbook. Everybody’s always so excited to receive their books. I think everybody had fun, and we tried to have interactive stations for everybody.” Thanks to her and the other staff members’ contributions, this event was indeed a success with the student body and a memorable day for all. 

Another staff member who was essential in planning the distribution and getting the yearbooks to students was Rahila Sheikh, this year’s Editor in Chief: “There’s a lot of organization because while setting up, we are working with upwards of $100,000 of material. So we have to be really cautious and make sure we are taking accountability for every single student, making sure nobody unauthorized takes books. It took a couple of weeks to plan out and organize everything, but overall, I think we did a really good job.” It takes incredible behind-the-scenes work for the yearbook staff to put on the distribution, yet it was worth it, and the student body got their books. 

As the year comes to an end, the last memories that students will be able to physically look back on will be their yearbook. The signatures and bittersweet paragraphs left in the blank pages of the books will last a lifetime, and yearbook distribution becomes a core memory for everyone.  A good yearbook does more than just document events and people; it is a window into a simpler time, a place where summers were long and the school days were even longer.