Its bold colors and creative theme add to the nowhere near traditional look of the 2008 La Conchilla yearbook. What makes “Insider ’08” so unique is its design. Inspired by a variety of magazines such as Seventeen, Glamour and J-14, the La Conchilla staff took a step away from the traditional style of designing pages to focus around a single topic or idea to designing pages filled with an eclectic mix of photos and information using color to provide unity.
“Deciding the theme and the cover to go with it was exciting,” says senior Melisa Ramirez. “Drawing the layouts and deciding what to put on the pages was a challenge. It was a lot of hard work but in the end, it paid off. The yearbook is beautiful.”
In addition to the traditional coverage of activities and sports, readers will find a fresh, fun look at who CV students are and what they have to say on a wide variety of topics. Surveys and quotes are everywhere throughout the book, especially in the mini-magazines that introduce the senior portraits and the underclass and faculty portraits.
“In our senior mini-magazine we have everything from spirit and pride senior style to what we’ve learned about surviving high school. And of course, we have our senior favorites,” says Melissa Vargas, a senior.
There is something for everyone in this year’s annual, says student editor Crystal Lopez, a senior. “When we were working on the people mini-magazine, we made it a rule to ask for quotes from students in each grade level and to make sure that all groups were included. We have 15 surveys and over 100 quotes in just those 14 pages.”
“I worked on the fashion layout,” says senior Salvador Rincon. “I tried to use ideas from fashion magazines and to include as many different styles as possible. Not only did I get photos of our favorite fashions, I got quotes from the people who wear them. I wanted to capture fashion at its moment.”
Each sport season has its own look. While fall sports coverage is more traditional, winter sports coverage steals a design idea from the pages of The Desert Sun. Spring sports coverage is all about the action, since the season goes long past the final yearbook deadline.
“What I like best is the little strip of photos we included in the student life section. It allowed us to put an extra10-15 photos on each page,” says senior Griselda Delgado.
In addition, La Conchilla celebrated its 70 anniversary by incorporating a “flashback” of previous yearbooks dating back to the 1940s. This modern “magazine” with a traditional twist has helped create a one of a kind yearbook.
“Students should expect to see the best of the 70 yearbooks that have been published and they should also look for themselves and their friends, they might just be quoted or in a photo,” says senior Cynthia Castillo.
“Looking back at the history of La Conchilla, as well as that of the school, was a humbling experience,” says adviser Cindy Soria. “It really helped to reinforce for my rookie staff how important a task and how big of a responsibility we shared.”
The yearbook is expected to arrive on campus on May, 27 and be ready for distribution beginning May 28. Anyone wishing to pick up a copy on the first day must have a paid-in-full receipt by May 8 when pre-sales end. Any yearbooks not sold by May 8 will be sold on a first come basis beginning May 29.
Yearbooks are on sale for $60 in room 539 after school and every day during both lunches. There are only 600 copies available, so do not delay.
“Expect change. Expect creativity. Expect the unexpected. Nothing but hard work and innovative ideas were put into this yearbook, so get it while it is still fresh,” says Crystal Lopez.