It can become exhausting, tiresome to achieve high standards without fault, especially when devoting your time, effort, and energy to being perfect. What some fail to understand, however, is that striving for perfection is nearly unattainable; it is impossible. Perfection is a concept that can promote stress, frustration, and anxiety; it causes people to miss out on the FUN in life because they are too worried over even the smallest of things.

While caught in the process of striving for perfection, we sometimes experience IMPERFECT outcomes that end up being even better than our original expectations; in some instances, imperfections provide better results in comparison to the “perfect” date, the “perfect” dinner, or the “perfect” party we had we had imagined prior to the event. Funny enough, the theme for this year’s yearbook is … IMPERFECT. Mrs. Deming claims that “IMPERFECT communicates an ideology that is juxtaposing the word perfection in which this year has been NOWHERE near perfection, yet we have been lucky enough to experience some really great things so far!” 

Take into consideration our return to school this year. Education with Covid-19 has been nowhere near the surface of perfection: the controversy over receiving Covid-19 vaccinations, having to wear a mask during class, following social distancing mandates. However, WE ARE HERE. We are learning IN PERSON together as ONE SCHOOL rather than through the lens of a computer at home. Education right now is NOT perfect by any means, but at least WE ARE BACK. 

Don Lugo’s reputation also contributed to the creation of this year’s yearbook theme. Unfortunately, there are some old-school community members who perceive Don Lugo as an inadequate high school for students to learn, but that is simply NOT true. Mrs. Deming explains, “There are imperfections in our own school that we are perfectly fine with; from an outsider’s perspective, it may not be perfect, but these imperfections are perfect for us.”

One change that the Yearbook team decided to implement this year is to approach the yearbook with blended coverage. When you receive your yearbook in May, you will notice that there is a story-telling element through EVERY SINGLE  page; in fact, these pages highlight a variety of stories where there is a commonality between program to program.

Examples of this include the “Interact” spread which describes how Don Lugo students have gone out and interacted with the community in various ways: Renaissance organized together with a canned food drive for low-income families; color guard, band, and dance team performed in the Chino parade; trained guide dogs are leading their owners around many obstacles on a broad scale. Another example is the “Chino Rivalries” spread which highlights the long-standing tradition between Chino and Don Lugo. Chino Rivalries is able to combine water polo, football, and volleyball into just ONE spread.

In addition to blended coverage, the yearbook is also following a more sophisticated format as well this year. Through pieces of training and yearbook camps in preparation for their competition (yes, Yearbook is competing this year!), the Yearbook team has developed a better understanding of what it takes to not only elevate the program itself but also to elevate the work that is coming from the production room. For instance, brainstorming themes that are representative of Don Lugo’s values and becoming more connected to school culture and spirit both exemplify the sophistication described by Mrs. Deming. Editor in Chief Sara Durazo claims that “by being back in person, we can have a better visual of how we want the book to look, and too, we have more designers this year to make that happen.”

It is simply impossible to describe this year’s yearbook in only one word- perhaps sophisticated, theme-oriented, blended coverage, beautiful, creative, inclusive- you know what, the yearbook team has worked too hard to narrow the book down into one word. In fact, the Yearbook team, especially the students, have had their hands on these pages so much more this year in comparison to last year. Given that last year, we were on shutdown AND it was Mrs. Deming’s first year advising yearbook, she felt the need to be more involved with creating the yearbook; HOWEVER, that is definitely NOT the case this year as students have a greater responsibility on their plate.

Photo Editor Madison Bonadurer expresses, “For my job alone, I have to interact with a lot of the staff at school, get schedules, figure out game times, ASB activities; it is important for me to balance both my schoolwork and also my position in Yearbook given the workload as a photographer.”

The process that it takes to create a yearbook as AMAZING as ours is something that often goes unnoticed. As the timekeepers of the school, creating the finished product is by NO MEANS an easy journey; students are taking charge to create a lengthy, detailed yearbook that “shows exactly how Don Lugo REALLY is, both the good and the bad,” according to Photo Managing Editor Chloe Austin. Blank white pages; brainstorms about themes; designed page templates; effective team collaboration; detailed photos to capture; lists of students to interview; creating a yearbook is a DIFFICULT task because the quality of the book matters, the stories within the book matter, and the tiniest of details matter.

It is important that we learn to embrace our unique imperfections in order to give us a better perspective of ourselves and the world around us. There is value to be found within imperfections, if only we choose to believe it. There is beauty to be found within imperfections, if only we choose to see it; and yes, there is growth to be found within imperfections, if only we choose to step into it.

Make sure to stay updated about information regarding the yearbook distribution on May 5-6. You are NOT going to want to miss the time capsule for this imperfect year!