By Reagan Paz

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As the year comes to a close, the student body eagerly anticipates the release of the yearbook, as it commemorates all of the events of the school year. This year’s Na Manao Poina Ole staff along with Journalism adviser Christopher Sato put in months of hard work to produce the finished product.

“It’s definitely worth the work just to see it. Before, we saw it on computer screens, and on computer paper in black and white, but seeing it (in) actual print, it makes you kind of forget the stress and the hard work and it really pays off,” said Faculty Manager Junior Vanessa Panetta.

This year, unlike past years, the yearbook didn’t have a theme, which initially was difficult to work with. “We didn’t want to sum up the school year through a possible cliche, we wanted to keep it open and leave the constraints of a theme,” said Sato. Editor-in-Chief Senior Iris Corrales added, “We wanted the yearbook to look as cohesive as possible but we were so used to working with themes that this year we had to (minimize) our design and find a way to make it work.”

However, not having a theme allowed the staff more freedom with their creativity. “I thought working without a theme made it easier just because we could have more options for story ideas and designing,” said Panetta.

This year’s staff was also significantly smaller than past years, having only five new members for a total staff of 12 people. “It was hard working with small numbers because we had to teach them new things. One of the hardest things was that we were trying to teach (the new members) at the same pace the returnees were at, so it was really hard for them to follow a little bit,” said Corrales.

Even with the smaller staff, they managed to step up to the plate and overcome challenges to produce the final product. “Over time they all showed improvement, they all were diligent and they worked really hard to meet our expectations,” said Corrales. Sato added, “Given the situation, they all grew, albeit stressful but nonetheless, each staffer shined.”

The product was a culmination of the staff’s hard work throughout the year. “Seeing the final product for the first time, I was content with the outcome and confident to say that all our hard work paid off in the long run,” Corrales expressed.

Sato and the staff hope that students enjoy and appreciate the final product and those returning look forward to creating the yearbook next year.