MANCHESTER – You may have your old high school yearbook laying around somewhere but years from now, alumni of the township’s high school class of 2021 will have the knowledge that their yearbook truly set an example for excellence.
The Talon 2.0 the cyber edition of the MTHS newspaper featured an article recently by the high school yearbook’s advisor Jill Ocone concerning Deja Vu 2021, the yearbook of MTHS, having been selected as an outstanding example of creativity and journalistic excellence.
Last year’s Deja Vu was chosen for Volume 9 of Possibilities, a 352-page inspiration and premier idea book published by Walsworth Publishing.
The Talon quotes Walsworth Publishing President Don Walsworth’s letter to the school stating, “I want to sincerely congratulate you and your 2021 yearbook staff on this remarkable achievement.”
Possibilities Volume 9 contains hundreds of hand-selected examples of exceptional theme, covers, photography, spreads and structure from 342 college, high school, middle school and elementary school yearbooks.
The article states that by being selected for inclusion, Deja Vu 2021 ranks among the best yearbooks printed by Walsworth. The yearbook features a 2020-2021 Virtual Remote Challenge 10: My Trusty Companion, featuring submissions by students of their pets who sat next to them during virtual learning. The year book’s overall theme was “Unwritten” and co-editors in chief were 2021 graduates Ally Nielsen, Felicia Roehm, and Taylor Zuczek.
Ocone said the yearbook is created by the Advanced Journalism and Career Journalism classes with assistance from the students enrolled in Introduction to Journalism classes and yearbook club. “I took over the journalism program in March 2007 and have taught all journalism courses and advised the yearbook and news clubs since.”
“I was extremely honored when I learned that the 2021 yearbook was selected for inclusion in Possibilities. My students encountered so many roadblocks in creating the 2021 yearbook. Facemasks made it impossible to identify students in pictures, and remote students encountered software glitches with the yearbook program,” Ocone added.
She said, “I thought that just publishing a yearbook during a pandemic would be my students’ biggest accomplishment. Returning to somewhat of what things looked like before the pandemic this year has provided the yearbook staff with a new vision and motivation to create an even better yearbook.”
“They must be doing something right, because we sold out of available 2022 copies back in February. This honor belongs to the students who created 224 pages of the 2021 yearbook out of nothing,” Ocone added.
Senior Caylyne Kozyra, 2022 Deja Vu Co-Editor-in-Chief remarked, “the pandemic gave us a different perspective on just how important the yearbook is and how much we missed out on. Last year we had to adapt more to work with what we were provided with, and this year we are working extra hard to make sure we get what we need.”
Deja Vu 2022 Co-Editor-in-Chief, Senior Emma Horowitz said, “our 2022 yearbook theme is “The Old and the New in 2022.” We selected it because this year is a fresh start with a new approach to old traditions and ways of doing things.
“I like that we get to use our creativity to design a yearbook that captures the year, especially this year because it’s so different from the past few years. It’s old and it’s new,” Horowitz added.
Senior Staff Member and 12th grade student Noelle Jean-Denis recalled that, “last year we were in a rut during COVID and we experienced a lot of setbacks. We couldn’t include a lot of images because we didn’t have a lot of choices.
“This year we have more variety of images. We also get to see people’s faces, which makes identifying students much easier. We can include more and new returning events, such as the return of the 100 Nights Dinner for seniors,” she added.
Fellow 12th grader Senior Staff Member Jasmine Panora said “the seniors came together this year. Our bond is better and that can be clearly seen in the pictures taken at senior events. We all are closer and have a good time together because we were separated for so long, and we reflected that in the 2022 yearbook.”
The yearbook’s financial adviser is William Schmidt and in addition to the co-editors in chief, the yearbook’s 2021 staff included graduates Desirae Ferrara, Danielle Gaughran, Michael Horowitz, Crystal Kilfeather, Angela Lyons, Nick Jensen, Maddy Moss, Elizabeth Oliver, Alexis Perry, Kylie Roessle, Joe Russomano, Navit Sanchez Del-Valle, Helena Staples, Anna Umlauf, and Claudia Wallace.
It also includes Deja Vu 2022 co-editors-in-chief Emma Horowitz and Caylyne Kozyra; current seniors Skylar Atkinson, Adriana Adametz, Arlette Jaimez-Ilagorre, Noelle Jean-Denis, Jasmine Panora and current juniors Sianna Blackwell, Alexis Cervenak, Rachael Kessler, Val Kohan, Abby Peluso, Samantha Verdi; and Grace Hallock.
