Before we moved fully online this year, the Crier would release a Senior Issue a few days before school let out. The issue included primarily senior messages. Students could write up to 400 characters, and they would include shout-outs, words of thanks, and, as Kelly talked about, some undecipherable "nonsense" that might or might not have been saying something inappropriate. Trying to decide whether to cut something or to leave it in was always a time-waster.
Some other elements of the Senior Issue included the Outstanding Seniors, a group of 10 seniors voted by the Conant faculty as deserving of recognition, as well as that year's retirees. We also included favorites, best memories, etc.
I thought that with the shift to online, we could avoid doing a Senior Issue. There would be no funds to print it, and besides, students have any number of ways of leaving messages for each other and staying in touch that many of us didn't have when we were in high school. I thought it was a no-brainer.
Until my managing editor began to ask me, regularly, about when we were going to work on the Senior Issue. And then my senior AP Lit students started to ask me. And when I told them we likely were not doing one, they were dismayed. I relented, and I turned over complete management of the issue to our managing editor and opinions editor, both of whom performed admirably in a very short time frame, completing the entire issue using Notability on their iPads. While we didn't print the issue, we posted a PDF of it to our website, and that seemed to satisfy many. You can see the entire issue here: The Conant Crier Senior Issue 2015
So, my question to you is: Do many of you complete something like a Senior Issue? If so, what does it entail? Do you still feel the work is worth it, or is the issue becoming somewhat obsolete?
David Gwizdala
James B. Conant High School
Hoffman Estates, Illinois
We do a senior issue and it is (unfortunately, in my opinion) the most anticipated issue of the entire year. It lists where everyone is going to college, and because my school is hyper-competitive, that's what everyone really wants to see. We also put our senior superlatives in there (thank GOD they're not in the yearbook). Last year I truly hated the senior issue because there was lots of interpersonal drama, but this year (my second) the staff and I took the lessons of the past and started REALLY early on production, and it actually went really smoothly. As soon as we get a PDF posted on our website, I'll send you think link! Long story short, I don't think it's becoming obsolete. And oddly enough, the headline on our front page (which mimics our yearbook's theme) is "No, it wasn't easy. But it was worth it."
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