Imagine having to stay at school hours after dismissal. Whether peers completed their portion of your group project or not, the buck stops with you.

The other students? mistakes have not been corrected. The deadline looms just around the corner and necessary pages are not complete. Pressure escalates and the only solution to these problems is you.

This is the daily routine of junior Molly Griffin and senior Ellie Wilhelm, editors of the campus yearbook, The Shield. The yearbook is annually published by Jostens.

Griffin has been contributing to the yearbook for two years, with this being her first as an editor.

?It?s fun to be a yearbook editor,? Griffin said, ?but it?s also really stressful. There?s a lot to do, so you have to work on your own stuff but also everyone else?s. I devote a lot more time so I have to have patience.?

Wilhelm, three-year yearbook student and first-year editor, works with Griffin to produce the yearbook.

?We (Griffin) are good friends so we usually agree with each other,? Wilhelm said. ?We don?t usually have a junior editor, but because of last year when the editor had too much work to do and was stressed, we decided to have one.?

The editors cope with their responsibilities amid the stressful atmosphere.

?Around deadlines everyone?s supposed to have pages done but they often don?t,? Griffin said, ?so Ellie and I have to write them and correct their mistakes. A lot is expected of me so I?m pressured to not screw up.?

Despite the stressful atmosphere, the editors value the experience because of the authority allowing them to add their own styles.

?The yearbook editors always have their own different style, so it?s nice to be able to change it to how we want it,? Wilhelm said. ?I like making the layouts and adding my own personal touch.?

The two editors have worked together for the last year with their advisor and Griffin says it has been a positive experience.

?I like how we get to contribute our ideas and be creative,? Griffin said. ?It?s the one thing everyone looks at during the end of the year so it feels good to have helped create it.?

The editors work closely with Molly Sargent, yearbook advisor since ?93, throughout the year.

?I basically have three yearbook periods,? Griffin said. ?I am a teacher?s assistant for Mrs. Sargent during first period. I have a regular yearbook period and I have study hall from her, too. If something needs to be done for yearbook, I do it.?

Wilhelm agrees and cited the importance of their advisor valuing their input.

?I like working with Mrs. Sargent,? Wilhelm said. ?She?s easy to get along with, listens to and values our input and she knows when to be fun or serious.?

Sargent selects the yearbook editors based on several qualities.

?I choose the yearbook editors,? Sargent said. ?They must have at least one year of yearbook experience. I look for editors that are responsible so I don?t have to get on their backs like the other yearbook students. I also want them to care about the quality of the yearbook, not wanting to just get it done. They must also be willing to lead and teach the others, being comfortable enough to tell them what to do.?

According to Sargent, it is advantageous to be a yearbook editor because of the experience.

?It?s more work, but they (editors) learn a lot through valuable hands-on experience,? Sargent said. ?I rely on them to do their job and rarely intervene. The editors are usually partial to their senior yearbook so they can feel personally proud for having created it.?

Sargent believes the skills learned in yearbook and other publications classes extend after high school.

?Yearbook is a unique class; it?s really vocational. Like any publications class, the skills you learn are applicable to many other areas. If a student learns the programs like Adobe