Students in this semester's yearbook class at Newtown High School looked back Monday, April 25 at almost a school year's worth of effort and forward to the final publication of this year's book.

NHS teacher Kristin Violette said students choose to sign up for the course for a half year or for the full school year. Students can also choose to take different levels of the course over their years at NHS.

Ms Violette spoke to the amount of time, effort, and dedication the students put in to make the yearbook possible. The students attend five hours of meetings each week, but making an effort to "adequately represent the student body" means the students also put in time outside of the classroom.

The 2015-16 yearbook's title and cover illustration will remain undisclosed until the book is revealed at the school. The students shared excitement for the book, and a number spoke to the design for specific pages they had control over.

The book is expected to arrive at the school by May 18.

"At that point we have to look through it and proofread it," said Ms Violette, before saying NHS administration will also look through the books before the 960 copies are distributed throughout the school population.

The 2015-16 yearbook has been on sale since last summer, and orders can still be completed online, jostens.com/yearbooks/high-school-yearbooks.html, by May 14, as supplies last. By April 25, Ms Violette said 887 copies of the 2015-16 yearbook were ordered.

NHS seniors Samantha Cody and Sara Bender served as the co-editors for this year's book. Samantha said she originally wanted to take the yearbook course at NHS after learning about her older sister's experiences. Sarah said she has learned time management from her three-and-a-half years taking yearbook.

NHS sophomore Tom Phaneuf said he has learned time management from taking the course, too.

Taking yearbook, Samantha said, taught her communication skills. Before taking the course, she said, she was shy. The course helped her grow up.

"At the end of the year, I like seeing everyone read the book," said Sarah.

Samantha and Sarah explained students oversee taking photos for specific pages in the book.

Students, according to Ms Violette, are also responsible for responding to e-mails and requests from parents and teachers for orders and submissions.

NHS sophomore Katie Bassett, who said she has taken a year-and-a-half of yearbook, said the students overseeing the book bounce ideas off of one another and work together.

Tara Hegarty, a senior, said people looking through the 2015-16 yearbook should note there are roughly 1,700 students in the school and the yearbook students kept track of all of the photos in the publication, to try their hardest to make sure each student is pictured in the book at least twice. Tara said a "Coverage Report" document was created to keep track of students and the number of photos in the yearbook.

"It is a conscientious effort to get everyone in twice," said Ms Violette.

NHS junior Mackenzie Macchiarulo said she scheduled use of the yearbook's cameras, and made lists to help keep herself organized.

The yearbook students use a Jostens program to create the templates for the pages, according to NHS junior Remy Tetreault. Jostens is a producer of yearbooks and student-created content, and it publishes the NHS yearbook. The students also use Adobe Photoshop for some photo editing.

Sarah said this year the students made the decision to not have a theme for the yearbook. Instead, Sarah said, art from the cover will be incorporated throughout each page of the book.

"It's a very cohesive book," said Sarah.

The yearbook students also oversee a supplement publication that will come out after the yearbook is published and will highlight events that happened after the book was completed.

This year's yearbook is on sale online for $85 and the yearbook and supplement are $105.