Estero High School students put together one-of-a-kind yearbook after tough school year

The past school year has seen tons of students missing out on milestones. From prom to field trips, many of the hallmark moments that typically make up a school yearbook simply didn’t happen.

But, students in the Estero High School Yearbook Club were determined to put together a book of memories to commemorate the different and difficult school year all while celebrating their triumphs.

Hayden Germanis is an editor of the Estero High school yearbook. “You’ll notice a lot of the pictures too it’s singular just a portrait shot or maybe a few people but there’s definitely not a lot of big group crowd kind of stuff,” said Germanis.

But, how do you make a book of memories for a school year that most students would rather forget? The Estero High School yearbook staff decided to focus on the little things.

Lillian Brodur is co-Editor-in-Chief of the yearbook.”A lot of students would send in photos of family vacations they went on, things they would do from their house” Brodur said.

Students sent in the fun things they did to get through the pandemic, like TikToks, music and family time.

“A lot of the theme this year was being a source of information for students to look at so, specifically, the COVID-19 spread this was a big baseline of what happened and how that affected our students right here in Estero,” Brodur said.

That meant rethinking everything because everything was changed this school year.

Scott Leiderman is the student’s yearbook advisor. “Unfortunately, without dances, without true pep rallies, without a lot of the major true high school events it makes it a lot harder to come up with content so we had to be very creative,” said Leiderman.

“I think it’s good that a lot of our book could tell you well this is what was happening online and these are the things you did with your friends when you were bored,” said Brodur.

The end result was an archive of a school year that no one will ever forget.

The students say they wanted their yearbook to show that despite so many missed opportunities and memories, they were still able to enjoy fun times together. Even if those fun times were from behind a mask or over zoom.