St. Mary's yearbook class honoured

For the fifth year in a row, the St. Mary's College yearbook class took top spot in Friesens' Yearbook Cover Design Contest.

This year's yearbook features the theme 'Our Time' and is a scrapbook style.

This year also saw the class publish Knights Magazine for the first time.

Following is a full release from St. Mary's on the yearbook class award as well as the magazine:

Students in the yearbook class at St. Mary’s College (SMC) have, once again, been recognized for their design achievements. For the fifth year in a row, St. Mary’s College has placed first in Friesens’ regional Yearbook Cover Design Contest.

This year’s theme, Our Story, is the most recent win for the St. Mary’s College yearbook class. The theme carries a scrapbook motif and senior editors, Gracee Zagordo and Ailee Iacoe explain, “Just like any scrapbook, the new school year starts out with blank pages. In time, the pages are filled with photos, clippings, and keepsakes that preserve memories that are cherished for years to come. The purpose of a yearbook is very similar. Without the sports, clubs, student life, academics, and people at SMC, there would not be memories to capture and no pages to fill. We decided to use the design of a scrapbook to create a yearbook that would not only preserve our memories, but tell the story of what it means to be a Knight.” The cover is simple in its design, yet depicts SMC student life and memories nicely.

Communications Technology teacher Polly Garson is grateful for her hard-working students.

“I am truly impressed with how hard the yearbook students worked and how well they all worked together. I am honoured and privileged to have witnessed such an amazing group of students. Creative thinking and rich dialogue amongst the students led our design to another regional winning cover.”

Publishing a school yearbook is no small feat and although challenges always present themselves, Gracee Zagordo and Ailee Iacoe explain that their successful completion is a result of teamwork and the classroom’s family-like environment.

“We believe the biggest challenge in putting together our publications is time. Just like a business, we have deadlines to meet and creating our publications is a lot of work, especially because we only accept our team’s best. Our yearbook team came together and worked extra hours so we could finish everything on time, which we did. We can confidently say that without the family aspect of the class, our motivation would definitely not be the same.”

In addition to publishing the school yearbook, the class also published their first school magazine, Knights Magazine. The magazine is a refreshing example of student life at St. Mary’s College. The first edition, a 56-page, full-colour magazine, features articles written by the yearbook students, photo galleries of sports, extracurricular activities, fun and interactive puzzles and game challenges and snapshots of students engaged in learning.

“This magazine is a reflection of St. Mary’s College student voices. As you read the articles, hear the student voices, feel their passions and their love, loyalty and pride for SMC. I am extremely proud of those students who had the courage to share their personal experiences. Their stories are enlightening and inspiring,” said Garson.

The magazine was presented to the 2020-21 and 2021-22 yearbook classes as a final project assignment. “Not only did they work hard to ensure that the yearbook was completed and published, but as part of their final assessment, students prepared page layouts and wrote articles for this magazine outlining life and experiences at St. Mary’s College. The students embraced the idea of an SMC magazine with enthusiasm, dedication and a professional work ethic. I am truly impressed by their commitment to share the greatness of St. Mary’s College,” added Garson. After two years of pandemic, the yearbook students were finally able to distribute the magazines.

The yearbook students at St. Mary’s College have certainly proven their success in publishing and their experiences and rich learning go beyond just the design of each publication. Iacoe and Zagordo describe their experiences as ones of personal growth, maturity, passion and a true appreciation for high school life. I believe that one of the most important things I have learned while being involved in yearbook is the importance of patience, passion and staying motivated. Creating and publishing a yearbook is a very tedious and demanding process and without the passion and genuine love for it, it is difficult to produce a high-quality product,” said Zagordo.

“Being in yearbook and being surrounded by students, as well as an amazing teacher like Mrs. Garson, has pushed me to get outside of my comfort zone and has taught me how to strengthen my weaknesses. Entering this class, I had a hard time receiving criticism and exploring my creative side. Now leaving this class, I can confidently say that I see criticism as those around helping you succeed and evolve,” said Zagordo.

“Having a part in publishing such special projects has increased my appreciation for my school community as I was exposed to how unique the different aspects of SMC are. Overall, being a Senior Editor of this year’s yearbook taught me true commitment and how rewarding it can be to immerse yourself in what high school life has to offer,” said Iacoe.

Our Story will be distributed to St. Mary’s College students and Grade 8 students in Sault Ste. Marie elementary schools during the second week of June and the yearbook students are currently working on the second edition of Knights Magazine.