Every Saturday morning, a group of students gathers in the Humanities Lab to work diligently on a creation they hope everyone will cherish for years to come: the yearbook.

The school’s yearbook is one of the nation’s most comprehensive yearbooks according to its adviser, social worker Karen Kennedy.

Though the yearbook has been recognized for its excellence, few are aware that the yearbook is created entirely by 10 students who sacrifice more than just a few Saturday sleep-ins.

The production of the yearbook begins long before the school year, according to senior Dahlia Padron, the yearbook’s editor-in-chief.

“We take a class in the summer at the University of Connecticut, get 20 hours of training and learn about advertising, composition, cover design, all those things,” said Padron.

During the school year, things become much more hectic for the staff members because they must balance their schoolwork with the yearbook, and they do not have all year to finish.

“We start in September and we finalize in March,” said Kennedy. “Because it takes time to print, it has to be at the publishers by March.”

To meet the deadline, the yearbook team meets every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and during X-block. The members also sacrifice part of their December and February vacations to work on the yearbook.

“It takes us all year,” said Kennedy. “The entire process takes more than 100 hours, and it takes two to three months just to do the senior section.”

The senior section, which is the second largest section of the yearbook, is made up of senior portraits, baby photos and quotes from all of the seniors. Because the section involves a large number of people, it has been difficult for the staff.

“There is only so much pressure we can put on the students,” said Padron. “When even 20 students don’t have something in, it puts everything behind.”

While the yearbook production is a long, arduous task, the dedicated and responsible staff members make it all possible, said Padron.

“We prefer to have a small number of students who are dedicated to it, as opposed to 20 kids who are not really invested and won’t come,” said Padron. “It’s a big commitment.”

All of the senior leaders, including Padron, sports editor Matt Gifford and senior section editor Margit Gall, have been devoted workers since they were underclassmen.

Though yearbook production involves a lot of commitment and work, Gall still finds it enjoyable.

“When we come to do yearbook, it’s fun,” said Gall. “We hang out, we get along and we do our work and also have fun together.”

However, yearbook production also requires that fun does not interfere with work, said Gifford.

“We have a lot of fun, but we also need to be structured and organized because if we mess up one little thing, the whole entire yearbook suffers,” said Gifford.

For Padron, leading the production of the yearbook makes her happy to know that she is doing something for her graduating senior friends.

“It’s something that we like doing, and it’s really important to everyone,” said Padron. “And it means a lot to be able to do this for the students: to be able to have a nice memory of high school, so that we can look back on our yearbook and be like, ‘Wow, look how nice this is, look how much fun I had in high school.’ ”

Paul Kim can be contacted at [email protected].