MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Let's talk about another cherished ritual from back in the day that's still appreciated - high school yearbooks. They're like time capsules. They record state championships, theater productions, who was voted most likely to succeed.
This year, some of those milestones, like so many other rituals, are up in the air. But at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., this spring isn't the first time that's happened. Caitie Switalski of member station WLRN talked to some of the school's yearbook editors about how they are documenting the end of their senior year.
CAITIE SWITALSKI, BYLINE: Friday, March 13 was the last time Alexandra Sullivan saw her fellow yearbook staffers in person.
ALEXANDRA SULLIVAN: I remember, like, we were trying to get as many pictures of people as possible because we knew we wouldn't be able to take any more.
SWITALSKI: Sullivan is the profiles editor for Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School's yearbook.
ALEXANDRA: This book has to get done, and we'll do whatever we have to do to finish it, which is exactly how we approached the '18 book.
SWITALSKI: Sullivan is one of 10 seniors who were also on staff in 2018, when a gunman opened fire at their school. Back then, she and her classmates had to adapt to an unimaginable tragedy. Now they have to adapt again to the pandemic. Caitlynn Tibbetts is co-editor-in-chief.
CAITLYNN TIBBETTS: This class especially has gotten screwed over so much in the past four years. The last two months were supposed to be the best, and they were supposed to make up for what we've been through. And it's really hard enough to kind of just watch it all disappear.
SWITALSKI: She says there's a collective grief among seniors about what their class, which has already lost so much, is losing now. They won't be able to dance together at prom or walk across the stage at graduation.
CAITLYNN: Even though it's a different type of hard and a different type of situation, we've changed ourselves and changed the way we work.
SWITALSKI: Sara Lerner is the yearbook adviser at Stoneman Douglas.
SARA LERNER: We're all coming together to finish this book. Having done one under unthinkable circumstances before, I hate to say that we're kind of, you know, used to it, but for the seniors on staff, we are.
SWITALSKI: After the shooting, the yearbook staff pivoted to include remembrances of the victims. Tibbetts and Sullivan stepped up to help write them while other yearbook staffers took time to attend funerals. Now they're making room for two new spreads about the coronavirus.
CAITLYNN: One of them is a more factual-based one - how it affected our community, including businesses. And the other spread is focused on the effect it had on us personally, both with online schooling and especially with seniors.
SWITALSKI: Logistically, putting the yearbook together and writing the new sections has been a challenge. This time, they can't be in the same room with each other to finish the design.
CAITLYNN: We didn't really realize how much corona was going to impact our ability to meet and talk to each other. We have a group chat with every single person on staff. It's how we're able to get quotes from different people in different grades. And yeah, it can get hectic.
SWITALSKI: They missed the original deadline to finish the book on April 6. But the yearbook printer is being flexible with Stoneman Douglas and other yearbook staffs across the country. Yearbook adviser Sarah Lerner says they turned the final pages in on Saturday. Once the printed copies come back, more than a thousand books will somehow have to be distributed to students. Lerner has some ideas for how to do that safely. But there's one important yearbook tradition they may not be able to save.
LERNER: We may not actually get to sign books this year.
SWITALSKI: Lerner says that's a hard thing to accept.
LERNER: As a teacher, I really like to get my students to sign my book. You know, and I like to sign theirs, and I like to see the kids carrying them around the school.
SWITALSKI: She's sad that probably won't happen this year. But at least this time, the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School aren't on their own.
LERNER: Unlike the 2018 book, this situation is not unique to us. So there's comfort in knowing that all staff are going through the same issue. It's not just us.
SWITALSKI: For NPR News, I'm Caitie Switalski in Fort Lauderdale. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.