BY MADDY FURDEK
[email protected]

Last Tuesday, the annual day-long club yearbook photo marathon took place in the Patti Baker Theater as hundreds of club members filled in and out throughout the day to get their club picture taken.

Cramming all 41 organizations on campus into one day seems confusing enough in itself, but this year it became even more strenuous for clubs to figure out when to leave class to get their picture taken as there was no schedule released to follow. In past years, the Yearbook class has put some form of a list on social media or around campus for students to follow, but this year, club members, as well as club presidents, were left to their own devices.

Being a club president myself, I found it very stressful releasing unverified information to my club members and hoping the time that I had heard about via word-of-mouth was accurate. I even had to correct myself on social media as the first approximate club photo time I had heard turned out to be incorrect.

This might not seem like a pressing issue to most students on campus, but the club yearbook picture is the most timeless way us students remember our extracurricular endeavors during our high school experience. Being in the yearbook is a privilege, and all students enjoy seeing themselves amongst a crowd of their peers and feeling as if they made a significant impact on campus. I personally would be sad to realize, once receiving my yearbook, that I unknowingly missed the photo op for the club I was involved in.

Perhaps a bigger problem with the way club picture day has been handled the last couple of years is the lack of verification towards club members. Anyone can jump into a club picture, whether they’re affiliated or not, just as a way to get out of class. This makes clubs seem like a joke, when really, they’re the brainchild of somebody’s hard work and dedication.

There should be an imposed rule that each club has to supply a list of consistent members to prevent a random student from jumping in their picture. I personally felt offended when people I had never seen before tried to get in my club’s picture, and I know if I had not asked them to leave they would have been allowed in it without question.

Again, while I acknowledge that neither of these problems seem like a huge problem for the school in general, I think club leaders and members will agree with me when they say they would like a released schedule on club picture day as well as a more structured way of verifying members before the picture is taken.

While I consider getting a club picture in the yearbook a privilege and I appreciate Yearbook’s efforts to involve people of all interests on campus, I do think a few slight reforms could make the entire picture day process a less stressful and more painless experience for everyone.