With over a year of hard work put in, 52 students’ input,  and 220 full color pages, the WLHS yearbook was finally handed out to students on May 28. The yearbook has adopted a fresh and unique look this year, according to Glenn Krake, yearbook adviser and English teacher.

“The yearbook is stunning,” Krake said. “They took on the challenge of designing the book in small sections, meaning they had a different design concept they created for every section, and their work definitely paid off. The book reads like a magazine, and it’s fun and fresh to flip through the pages. I’m very proud of them.”

“I think this year’s yearbook turned out great,” Jack Draney, junior and yearbook editor. “It’s a lot better than expected.” The yearbook staff decided to make some changes from the 2013-2014 book.

“Last year, the staff polled the student body and heard from that senior class that they wanted something classic, traditional and clean, so the book was simple and fresh,” Krake said. “This year, when we polled the student body over the summer, they wanted something fresh, unique and cool. So that’s what the staff gave them. The book changes its look every couple of pages. We included more stories about individuals, highlighting their unique traits and backgrounds.”

“I really liked the yearbook this year,” Mikayla Vincent, freshman, said. “I thought it looked cooler than the one from last year.”

Krake has already planned which awards he will enter the yearbook for.

“We will be submitting the yearbook into the National Scholastic Press Association and the Columbia Scholastic Press Association competitions,” Krake said. “They are the two national institutions that critique, judge and award the top books in the country.” Krake feels the yearbook has a strong chance to be recognized in the competitions.

“The CSPA tends to be a bit more traditional and they tend to award more classic-looking books, so we may fare better in the NSPA competition,” Krake said. “In the end, it’s about our student body that really matters, because it’s their book, so as long as they are happy, [the staff] is happy.” The yearbook will not know how they have placed until February of 2016.

Krake and the yearbook staff already have big plans for next year’s yearbook.

“Next year is West Linn’s Centennial year, so we are looking forward to putting together a special book that celebrates 100 years,” Krake said. “This year’s book will be hard to beat, but they seem to get better every year, so we’re excited to see what the next book will look like.”