How Clovis West students put together their yearbook amid COVID-19 closure

CLOVIS, Calif. (KFSN) -- During normal times, piecing together a high school yearbook is a tough task for students and their teachers.

Of course, these are not normal times.

School campuses were closed in mid-March as social distancing practices were implemented.

Clovis West yearbook adviser Leslie Booth knew she had to act quickly.

Time was not on her side.

"Typically, you have to have a yearbook sent off to the publisher at the very end of March, very beginning of April," Booth says.

When in-person classes were canceled, the book was still missing photos of some spring sports and end-of-the-year activities.

"We struggled with boys tennis, we struggled with track, we struggled with badminton," Booth says.

With print deadlines fast approaching, Booth says she called on her team of editors to get creative.

"We reached out to parents - 'Do you have any pictures of boys tennis?' We reached out to coaches. We ended up using some pictures from previous years with current players."

For activities with no pictures, the team decided to honor those students in a unique way.

"You can't fake pictures that don't exist, so they did a full-page tribute honoring the commitment that those kids had made to that sport," Booth says.

Booth admits some school activities were left out of this year's book because of the global pandemic, but that doesn't mean the quality had to suffer.

"The quality of the book is not diminished, my students are perfectionists, they accept nothing less than top quality," says Booth.

For more news coverage on the coronavirus and COVID-19 go to ABC30.com/coronavirus