The Trivium, Rockbridge County High School’s yearbook, has been producing publications since the highschool started. It is an institution that captures a year in the life of the RCHS student body. The photojournalism class, often lovingly referred to as “phojo,” covers school events from Homecoming to sporting events and even student life outside of RCHS. Because of this, a lot more goes into this photojournalism time capsule than one would think.

Two of the members of this year’s Trivium staff are Parizad Irani and Emma McDonald, co-editors-in-chief. 

McDonald, as co-editor-in-chief, has responsibilities including checking others’ work on spreads, making sure students make deadlines, and going into lower level classes to assist in anything they need, all while working on her own spreads as well. 

“It’s a lot of planning and managing as well as working really closely with other phojo students,” said Mcdonald.

McDonald commented on what drew her to the photojournalism class in the first place.

“My sister took phojo before me so when I was looking into classes for my sophomore year I talked to her about it,” said McDonald, “She told me how amazing Mr. Hamelman was and how the class was so fun that I decided to take it. I wasn’t sure how it would go but it ended up being my favorite class throughout high school.”

In the creation of this project, Trivium staff undertake the many responsibilities involved. The process begins before the previous school year is even over.

“Most people think that the creation of the yearbook starts when school does, but in reality it starts as soon as we are done with the previous year’s,” said McDonald, “Because there are first years, second years, and third years, every class has a different way of helping put together the yearbook.” 

“The next step is to assign spreads to everyone on staff. When you are assigned a spread, it’s your job to finish it. This can include interviewing students, doing research, thinking outside the box to come up with fun ideas, and taking pictures of classes, clubs, sports and so much more,” said Mcdonald, “Because we assign spreads to everyone and we have due dates, the book can come together fairly quickly and piece by piece if everyone stays on top of their work.”

One of the priorities of the Trivium’s staff is highlighting unique members of the RCHS community. 

McDonald said, “My favorite part of working on the yearbook would be being able to meet all different types of people at RCHS and getting to take pictures of classes, clubs, events and more. I love getting to capture a moment that we’ll get to look back on at the end of the year and the rest of our lives.”

McDonald comments on what makes the yearbook an integral part of RCHS.

“The yearbook is a huge part of our school because it captures so many of those moments we never knew we needed. It’s kept very real and raw because we want you to look back on the yearbook and remember all the late night football games, the fun events, the classes that had all of the interesting projects. It’s important to remember these years because as long as 4 years sounds, it goes by in a flash,” McDonald concludes.

Currently, students are finishing up their first spread and starting on more. This process will continue for the rest of the year. Editor-in-Chief Parizad Irani commented on what’s currently happening for the staff. 

“Right now the main staff is working on gathering information for their spreads, while the editorial staff is working on designing the books layout,” said Irani.

The staff are looking forward to seeing the results of all the photojournalism staffs’ hard work on the 2021-2022 publication.

Irani said, “I am super excited about this year’s book! We have an incredible staff and everyone is working incredibly hard to create a unique and special yearbook for the school.”