2009 CCHS yearbook connects

Did you know …

- Some 2,120 photographs fill Culpeper County High School’s 2008-09 Colonnade yearbook?

- It takes a staff of 14 students to produce its 180 pages?

- The average staff member spends about 30 hours in yearbook class each month? (And that doesn’t include the hours logged from home or during their spare time.)
Now, the staff and adviser Michelle Edwards have some hardware to show for their efforts. The Virginia High School League awarded CCHS with the Trophy Class plaque in October for its work on the 2008-09 Colonnade yearbook.

The plaque’s inscription says CCHS received the award “For its outstanding achievement in quality publications service to its school and community.”

“It’s like everything we worked for last year paid off,” said Kit Riggs, a sophomore.

CCHS was among 32 other schools to win the Trophy Class award, which is the highest ranking. The judges evaluated the yearbook’s concept, coverage, design, writing and photography.

Its “Connected” theme is visible throughout the book, linking all of the students’ names using classes or shared activities. All students are connected in some sort of way, said this year’s co-editor, senior Andrea Dillard.

“It’s sort of a spinoff of the six degrees of separation,” Edwards said, adding that the book was designed in chronological order — compared to organizing the photos into sports or academic categories, for example.

“I think it’s better this way because we cover more during each week,” said sophomore Lydia Prior, co-editor for the 2009-10 yearbook.

Kaitlin Carver, who graduated in June, was editor-in-chief last year.

Working with what they’ve got
Prior and Dillard said they would like to see CCHS receive more functional equipment to produce the Colonnade.

According to the staff, the school has five working computers, one point-and-shoot camera and one printer.

“It’d be cool to get someone to help sponsor us,” said Dillard, who would like to have a new, state-of-the-art photo lab at CCHS.

What’s next?
The yearbook staff began work on this year’s edition over the summer. It will be an anniversary version featuring the covers of previous years and incorporate the school’s extensive history.

CCHS’s latest building on Achievement Drive opened in 1969. Before that, the high school was located on Radio Lane for 20 years. And Culpeper’s Graded School was located on North East Street before that.

“We really want to include interviews with past teachers,” Edwards said, “but it’s really hard to find people when there is no archive.”