Attending school as an honor student may seem difficult, but when adding AP classes on top of that, then adding in after school activities including clubs, family time, and sports, it gets even harder. It’s something that many students at Palm Harbor can have to deal with. But there are two students in particular who exceed this by being editors for the school yearbook.

Being behind the scenes and basically running an entire class themselves, seniors Rachel Pinnel and Michaela Mulligan control a large portion of how the yearbooks turn out.

“Right now, my life is not that stressful because homework hasn’t really started yet,” said Pinnel. “But when it does, I’ll have to start doing my homework during classes and my free time.”

There is a lot of work that goes into creating a yearbook. The first step is coming up with a theme for the book to be based off of.

“I spent the entire final day of coming up with a theme not talking to anyone because you could feel the stress,” said assistant editor Olivia Fragola.

After agreeing on something that will be enjoyable for all students at the school, the next step is laying out the yearbook. How will the memory book be arranged?

Finally, it is time to create spreads. This is where editors get to work. As staff members find photos and write their copy, editors are working on their own spreads and editing anything that is wrong with staffers spreads. It all comes down to them.

“Editing the spreads usually isn’t that stressful because most of the work has been done,” said Michaela Mulligan. “The hard part is making the spreads. We make three spreads every deadline.”

Normally, each staffer is assigned one spread per deadline. Most staffers would not know what to do if they were given three spreads every deadline.

Overall, there is a lot of work put into the yearbook by the editors. A lot of this work requires them to stay after school for several hours a week. And even more work is put in when the final drafts are finished. The later in the year, the more stressful their job becomes.

“Being a yearbook editor takes a lot of dedication and time. People don’t realize how many steps there are to creating consistent spreads in a yearbook,” said assistant editor Sarah Devine. “You have to be able to commit to putting in your time, even if it means staying after school for hours.”