All I Do Is Win Win Win

There really weren't that many rewards in yearbook this year. This is probably due to our inefficiency, laziness, and cliques, as we have all been informed time and time again. So there were no parties, no treats, no pats on the back. Just work. Straight up, work. But I do fondly remember one fun, relaxing, relieving, and rewarding reward: a little photo and caption contest for us staffers.

Ms. A is always coming up with cute little activities for us to perform to keep us busy in a productive way. Like our investigative work on the murder of Mr. Kelley. So one day after a deadline and before holiday, we were given a competition. "I want you all to take a picture. Your angle is 'In Between Classes'." said Ms. A. "And then, write a caption for a picture from last year's book. The winners will recieve a prize. Partner up and go." I grabbed Maria, and dragged Rowan along, and we set out into the cut throat world of competitive staffers.

My team and I started brainstorming as we entered the hallways, scouring for ways to make the time in between classes seem visually exciting. We started with snapping pics of kids at their lockers, or kids running down the halls. We even scared the crap out of some frantic child when we took a stealthy photo of him charging through the patio. But none of it was working out. We knew we could not win with the average photos we had gotten. And losing was NOT ACCEPTABLE. So we set out, determined and willing, to get the picture perfect picture.

Maria, Rowan, and I entered the new building. We saw a fabulous little area, the perfect backdrop for a photo. It was a small, concealed corner next to the Vitamin Water vending machine. Entering a random classroom, we used our press pass authority to grab an even more random student (we would later learn he was known as Esteiner Pineiro). We ushered Pineiro to the photo set, when I felt a rush of motivation and began clicking the Nikon in a enthusiastic frenzy. I even gt down on my knees! :O It was a quite successful session, and we raced back to the Journalism room to turn in our results.

As we apprehensively awaited the results of the photo contest, we got to work on the caption contest. The picture we were told to write a caption for was of a dancer at a pep rally. We sat down, and in 5 minutes created a wicked couple of sentences. Then, the time came. Ms. A, Yaya, and Olivia had reviewed the entries and were ready to announce the winners...

"Kristine, Maria, and Rowan won BOTH the photo and caption contest", exclaimed Ms. A. YAY! We were quite excited, but not exactly surprised. Our photo and caption were displayed as a bastion of yearbook excellence. So, now it is evident that we are amazing staffers :)

New Beginnings :)

Okay so as you were previously (and quite dramatically) informed, I now had a new partner. Her name was Maria Prokopetz. I had known Maria from my middle school, as we were in advanced drama together (we are both fabulous actors, of course). She was also in my Journalism class the year before, where we often shared words in between naps. I was really very excited to work with her.
After the partnership was made, Maria and I made a fantastic team. We went out and we got our shit done. And our shit was good. Our shit got A's almost every time. Prokoptez was, in actuality, a legit partner. We wrote our articles in collaboration, molding the two sets of our ideas and styles into one. I could always count on her to fill our articles with life. Plus, she always had some bigs words to help spice things up a bit.
Not only was our work good, our friendship was too. Maria and I always had fun on our adventures. Whether it was tracking down a seemingly nonexistent student, or laughing about the nonsense we encountered on the way, we sincerely enjoyed ourselves. And I loved sharing all the stories about our weekends. I must say, we had a pretty amazing yearbook partnership.
And now I'm sad that she's not coming back next year! :(

Separated: The real story of a yearbook staffer and her will to survive without Rowan

As mentioned earlier, Rowan Holzberg and Kristine Lesperance made up the dream team. Best yearbook partners ever? I think so. You got a glimpse of the pain and horror experienced when they were split up, but I will put you through the full, intense, and horrifying emotional detail right now. This is the true story of a partnership broken.

It was the second nine weeks. Rowan and Kristine had made it through the whole first semester! They had turned in beautiful articles and stunning pictures (most of the time), and impressed even themselves when they made it out of the grading period unscathed. Holzberg and Lesperance were geared up for another period of awesomeness. But as they would soon learn, such a fate was not reachable.

"We're making some changes this time around," said Ms. A as the yearbook staff entered the classroom. "We need to switch up the partners." Rowan and Kristine looked at each other, praying this was not applicable to them. But their prayers were quite harshly and quite bluntly rejected when Ms. A revealed what was to come: The partnership was separated. Disentangled. Ruptured. Undone. Severed. BROKEN. As you can imagine, it was an extremely sad event. It was one of the most horrifyingly memorable moments in Kristine's yearbook life.

But do not start slitting your wrists yet. Although the bump in the road was ridiculously terrible and unseen, it would soon be appeased by new partnerships. Rowan was paired up with Ale, who's pretty cool :) And Kristine got a FABULOUS new partner, Maria Prokopetz!

To learn the complete story of these new pairings, read the next chapter of Separated. TO BE CONTINUED...

Not Exactly Picture Perfect

When I found out that, as a yearbook staffer, I would be able to help out with picture day, I was ecstatic. I thought it would be super fun to provide some assistance during a crazy day, and it didn't hurt that I would be able to miss some of school. I signed myself up right away. Little did I know what I was getting myself into.
I began Picture Day after my first and second periods, history and math. When I showed up to the gym, I saw all of the editors and staffers hard at work and I could not wait to be a part of it. I threw my stuff in the corner, and prepared myself for the job I was given: ushering children to the lines and camers and making sure they were ready for their picture. A class finally walked in, ready to take their pictures, and I was filled with vivacity. Until the job ACTUALLY began.
In case you have not noticed, many students here at Killian are not exactly fully mature, and definitely not well behaved. Because of this maturity and behavioral hindrance, my small, simple, and exciting task quickly metamorphisized itself into a nightmare.
Kids came swarming into the gym at all angles, practically screaming at the top of their lungs. Girls were fluffing their hair and doing their make up for what looked like the 14th time that day. Guys preened themselves, trying not to look too feminine but secretly worrying all the while. They completely and utterly disregarded our words to "Stay in line", or "Go to camera three please". And you can forget them even considering to listen to "Please take off all IDs and backpacks". From being exposed to such disobedience, immaturity, incosideraetion, and apathy, I began to think that Thomas Hobbes was onto something.
Class after class, the same thing happened. Kids stormed in, screamed, didn't listen, some how managed to take a picture, screamed some more, then left. It went pretty smoothly, I would say. Scarred and exhausted, I began to desire the more boring and controlled classroom atmosphere. I left for a mandatory sixth period, relieved that the day was over, wishing I would not have to relive it.
So, until next year's picture day :)

Lil Row Ho

So, as my earlier post explained, I now had many yearbook friends. One of the best was Rowan Holzberg, A.K.A Lil Row Ho. We had known each other mildly during freshman year, but we really bonded through yearbook. As you were previously informed, Rowan was one of the only people I knew. It was only logical that we would become partners. When it came time to decide, we looked at each other, semi-awkwardly, and I knew our yearbook partnership began (no homo). So we were sent out on endless assignments, writing articles, taking pictures, creating captions, and most importantly, becoming friends.
Since then, Rowan and I have shared many laughs, many stories, many secrets. This cute little jew is one of the funniest people ever. We always cracked up with each other, whether it was making fun of interviewees or dying over internet cheers. We made a kickass team, always impressing Ms. A (even though she acted like she wasn't). But soon enough, she realized that Rowan and I possesed too much awesomeness for one team. So she SPLIT US UP! :'( It was terrible.
But don't worry, we're still super duper close! <3333

looooooooooser

So after I FINALLY got to yearbook, I pretty much had no friends. Except a chonga named CaRoLiNa and I kind of knew these cool kids Hoewan Hoezberg and Sam. But thats it. I was pretty much a friendless yearbook loser. All the seniors were quite intimidating, not only because of their age and status, but because of their extensive yearbook knowledge. I was a newbie and a sophomore, a sad mix.
But soon enough, I began making friends. I became acquainted with the rest of the yearbook kids, the older and younger ones alike. No longer was I a meek baby staffer. I had friends to share the experience with, and this helped me along in becoming a confident member of Catamount.

newspaper instead of yearbook

Excitement would be the word to describe it. I was so overwhelmingly excited to begin the 2009-2010 school year as an official member of the Catamount Yearbook staff. As a freshman, I had endured J1, sitting through hours of unamusing and tiring classes, all in the hopes of reaching a more appealing and stimulating world. So you can imagine my shock on the very first day of school when I found myself placed in 6th period newspaper instead of 4th period yearbook.
As part of a scheduling mistake, I had been given the class. And even though I made several trips to the counselor's office to get the situation fixed, I was told it would be a long time until things were straightened out.
I had no place in that class. What was I doing there? I could not and did not want to contribute to the Cougar's Roar. I belonged in Yearbook. So, for the duration of my time on the newspaper staff, I was made the official "note taker". Mrs. Duran would go on and on about all the amazingly interesting articles while I stood at the white board writing down notes. As I'm sure you can assume, it was quite hard to enjoy myself. Oh but I did meet some creeper newspaper kids. That was tons of fun.
This dragged on for about 3 weeks. When the bell rang for 6th period, I walked into newspaper, was greeted by my new creepy friends, and then took my place at the whiteboard. But just when my patience was running out, I recieved a beautiful piece of highlighted white paper letting me know I could now assume my rightful place. So off I went! I walked into the yearbook room for the very first time, and yayyyyyyyyyyy I was an OFFICIAL official staffer :)