This story appears in the 2022 Southernaire Yearbook, purchase your copy for $75 at this link

English teachers took each of their class periods to the auditorium at scheduled times. Once they arrived at the auditorium, students lined up on the stairway to the stage. While practicing social distancing, five students at a time were directed to go to one of the three photo booths available to take their picture. After their photos were taken students and teachers sat down and waited for their student ID to be printed, stamped, and given to them to keep for the school year. Much like the DMV, students were eager to see how their picture turned out, knowing it would be forever immortalized in the yearbook.

“Picture Day is one of the things I don’t like in the moment but looking back on it, it makes me realize how important it is,” said junior Emily Herrera, “I remember how I would always get really nervous just before getting my photo taken,” said Emily. Students encounter different experiences when it comes down to this special day. These long-lasting photos stick throughout the year, and even past that, as many students look through old yearbooks of their parents or other family members. “When I think of picture day, I remember the times where my pictures always came out differently from what I visioned,” said freshman Richie Hines.