For the past few years Townsend Harris High School has offered a yearbook elective, in which students work on taking photos, formatting, and collecting information from their peers for the yearbook. However, seniors who had the class on their programs in June were surprised to find that the course was cancelled when they returned to school in September.

Former teacher of the yearbook class Caroline Lopera is now starting a yearbook club in its stead, hoping to create a yearbook comparable to those of past years. However, this might prove to be difficult. She explains, “When it’s a class, there is an incentive. But at the end of the day, the incentive for this [club] is that it is your yearbook.”

Assistant Principal of Guidance Veronica York states that the reasoning behind the change is because so many students of the incoming class needed to take language classes such as Spanish 1, leaving room for only either AP Latin or Yearbook. She remarks, “I don’t like cutting anything. I think they’re both important. But as an administrative decision, it was decided that we should really have AP Latin, so we put AP Latin first.”

Senior Mirie Kim was one of the many who signed up for the class and is upset by the change. “I was really annoyed because the change was so abrupt, and we literally found out the first day of school,” she said. “I still feel that it would’ve been much better as a class but it’ll still be a worthwhile club since we are creating the yearbook.”

Jowyn Chan, another senior, adds, “I was really bummed that they cancelled the class because this meant that our grade wouldn’t have the opportunity to have a dedicated group of people to work on the yearbook. However, it’s nice that everyone came together, and we were able to figure out a schedule and form a club.”

With the change from class to club, many seniors are reconsidering joining because they already have many other commitments. For the club to function properly and for seniors to get their yearbooks by June, Ms. Lopera states, “We need people who can take pictures, people who are good at writing, and people who are creative and artistic.”

Photo by Renaenia Pangan