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news Panther Prowler • Feb. 12, 2021
Students create a yearbook for a unique year Anna Johnson Entertainment Editor
Staff/Pawprint
Because this school year is almost entirely online, not many students expected a yearbook at the end of this semester. However, despite the difficulties of a year lived in a pandemic, the 2020-2021 NPHS yearbook is still in the making. Both Ramya Ukkan, senior, and Mallory Norton, junior, are editors-in-chief of yearbook, supervising their staff and making sure pages are made. “Ramya and I come up with the plans for the week, and we give everybody tasks to do and we delegate what we need them to do. We kind of oversee everything, so we are the last ones to have our eyes on it before we send it to Jostens to be printed or get proofed back,” Norton said. Alyssa Moffit, junior, is a staff member for the yearbook, and has a variety of tasks to do for the production. “In a day, I usually work on the page or pages I have been assigned for that deadline, which includes interviewing people around the school, editing pictures, designing the page and sometimes making small graphics,” Moffit said. Being online, the yearbook staff has had their fair share of difficulties. “I mean, it’s definitely been a challenge doing everything over Zoom. We have not been able to go and take photos of events because sporting events and other school events have been canceled or they’re over Zoom, so that’s definitely been difficult,” Ukkan said. Because they have brought on new staff members, Norton believes it has been difficult to train them online. “It’s been really hard to teach them Indesign and Photoshop through Zoom because we can’t sit over someone’s shoulder and say ‘OK now you do this’ or ‘now you do that’ and show them exactly what to do,” Norton said. Norton believes that having a physical representation of the year students went through makes the process worth it. “I feel like that’s the biggest motivator that we have, a hard copy of something that we get to show our families, friends and our future children and show what we did in high school,” Norton said. The yearbook is going to be a little different from previous years, given that this year has been spent online. “We’re just trying to create a yearbook that resembles this year. It’s not going to be the most perfect yearbook you see out there, or the photos might not be as good quality as last year, but we’re trying to show that no matter what’s going on we’re still fighting and we’re still making a yearbook that resembles the trials and tribulations that people have gone through this year,” Ukkan said. Staff members believe that the class is worth joining because of the people in it. “I want to encourage people considering joining the yearbook next year to sign up! It is the class I always look forward to and it is a great way to meet new people because everyone on the staff is kind and accepting. It is also a great way to become more creative, and it is so exciting at the end of the year to see all your hard work in a book,” Moffit said. Those who want to submit photos or ideas to the yearbook can send them to their email: nphspawprint@gmail.com
NPHSSF provides for graduating seniors Sera Mohammed Staff Writer
While many high school students look forward to attending college, paying thousands of dollars in tuition every year can present a challenge. The NPHS Scholarship Foundation (NPHSSF) was founded in 1979 and works to provide scholarship opportunities for high school seniors who are looking to further education in college. NPHSSF has been meeting online over quarantine with hopes to maintain their organization as they have in the past. But because of COVID-19 and the fact that they are missing several in person donation events, it has been more difficult to raise money for the scholarships that they provide. Julie Nagamoto, co-chair of NPHSSF, said, “Throughout the year, we raise money through restaurant night fundraisers, being present on campus at Back to School Nights and Future Panther Night, and through community donations and support.” The money collected from these donations are used for the scholarships that the NPHSSF supplies. The other NPHSSF co-chair, Joo Cho, said, “Since this organization is run by volunteers, 100% of the money we raise is used for scholarships for NPHS students.” When the NPHSSF considers applicants for their scholarships, they do not merely look at the students’ GPA, but also their involvement outside the classroom. “We look at school spirit, like sports, clubs and how one participates...We also look at volunteer work and outside organizations. We try to look at everything we can and try to recognize as many students as we can,” Charles Taggart, former NPHSSF treasurer and webmaster, said. NPHSSF also funds memorial scholarships. Their own former treasurer joined the Foundation in hopes to start a memorial scholarship for his niece. “My niece Sarah Galbawy, class of 2010, passed away Dec. 31, 2011, died in a tragic mountain bike accident…Her parents wanted to start a scholarship in her name, so I started looking into starting a nonprofit to honor her memory,” Taggart said. “I decided that it would be a lot easier to have her scholarship with NPHSSF than starting my own.” The Sarah Galbawy Memorial Scholarship has been awarded to 22 people since 2012. The amount of the scholarship differs by year, depending on the amount of funds NPHSSF gains that year. After several meetings end on end, Taggart found himself as the NPHSSF treasurer and webmaster and held that role for another eight years. NPHSSF recently published a Google Classroom for seniors to join and sent emails out to all the seniors with the link to join. The NPHSSF website, http://www.nphssf.org/, allows students to view information on the scholarships that could be awarded. These scholarships range anywhere
Fundraise- At an NPHSSF fundraiser the members sell books to raise money for upcoming scholarships. Fundraise“Throughout the year, we raise money through restaurant night fundraisers, being present on campus at Back to School Nights and Future Panther Night, and through community donations and support,” Julie Nagamoto said. Julie Nagamoto/With permission
between $200-10,000. “In the past, we have given out around 30 scholarships each year. We also manage and distribute the funds for many community and memorial scholarships,” Nagamoto said.
