The General Journal

The student news site of Heritage High School

  • This year's yearbooks are on sale at jostensyearbooks.com!

The General Journal

The General Journal

HHS Yearbook Featured in Jostens’ Look Book

For the fourth year in a row, the Heritage Journalism Class’ 2022 “Still” yearbook was chosen for Jostens’ Look Book out of over 1,000 submissions.
HHS+Yearbook+Featured+in+Jostens+Look+Book
G. Peace
Members of the Fall 2021 Journalism class take a group photo. From Left: Mr. Peace, Hailee Cicili, Connor Richardson, Miles Clark, Paige Johnson, Gunner Bryson, and Cade Stone

Every year the HHS Journalism class designs and creates a yearbook to perfectly wrap up that year at Heritage. The 2021-2022 yearbook entitled “Still” was chosen to be part of the Jostens’ Look Book alongside 480 other schools, out of over 1,000 submissions. (Due to the fact that Heritage’s yearbook is delivered the following school year in August, as opposed to before school is out in the spring, there is a delay in recognition for the Look Book.) This is the fourth year in a row that the Heritage yearbook, “The Legacy,” has been chosen for inclusion in the Look Book. The Look Book is a 300-page book that features the best of the best yearbooks each year. The Look Book is sent to over 11,000 schools for inspiration. The idea that the 2021-2022 Journalism staff had for this particular yearbook was based around “persistence.” As the opening spread in the book explained, “After almost two years of dealing with a pandemic, students, teachers, and staff had become supremely flexible, experts at adapting to a variety of circumstances.” This yearbook theme was a way to connect through the students and really show how they all were able to “still” accomplish their wonderful year, no matter the hardships that came.

Although the yearbook made during the 2021-2022 school year was chosen as the best of the best, it wasn’t only a wonderful yearbook that came from that year. “What stands out to me was that all of the leadership that I have this year [2023-24] kind of all started that year [2021-2022],” said Mr. Peace, the yearbook sponsor. The 2022 year had many students who really stood out based on their leadership skills and became an inspiration to many including the current Yearbook Editors Allie Boyd and Briley Simpson, General Journal Editor-in-Chief Natalie Ferry, and four-year Journalism staff member Miles Clark.

Every year these students work closely together, interviewing other students, taking pictures, and writing different pieces. Alumni Paige Johnson, Yearbook Editor for the “Still” book, “The best thing about Journalism was that not everyone had to be good at the same thing! We could all be good at different things and still create a great yearbook.” Alongside veteran staff member and alumni Cade Stone, Johnson led the creative ideas and made the executive decisions that led to “Still” being so great. Junior Natalie Ferry, who was a freshman in the 2021-2022 school year, said, “It was a big deal to come in and be like, ‘Hey, these are my ideas.’ [The other members] always valued them, and it meant a lot to 14-year-old me.” Everyone gets the opportunity to be able to share their own ideas and creativity when it comes to making the yearbook. The students each help carefully

Members of the Spring 2022 Journalism class take a break from their hard work for a good old fashioned British tea party.
Front Row, from Left: Sophia Isler, Georgia King, Allie Boyd, Natalie Ferry, and John Hurst
Back Row: Connor Richardson, Cade Stone, and Paige Johnson (Garrett Peace)

formulate the theme for every year and design various spreads for each page. Current senior and Yearbook Editor Allie Boyd explained, “The year we were working on ‘Still’ was a good group of kids, and it was fun. We were a small group, and we just got really close.” After working on the yearbook all year, the students tend to grow close and form real connections. The HHS Journalism Staff are proud to have one of their yearbooks chosen for this year’s Jostens’ Look Book and hope to see the 2022-2023 book accepted next year. 

More to Discover
About the Contributors
Addie Kate Stafford
Addie Kate Stafford, Staff Writer
Addie Kate Stafford is a 16-year-old sophomore at Heritage High School. She is returning for a second year in Journalism. She also takes part in the Heritage football management team: she helps with all practices and games. She is taking two Honors classes, English and History. She also maintains a streak of Straight A’s in all of her classes. In her time at Heritage, she has made many valuable friendships and connections, especially on the girls managing team. In her free time she loves to listen to music, read books, or spend time with the people she loves. She has traveled to many places such as Mexico, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and many more. She loves to travel and experience new places or people. Her future plans involve going to medical school and becoming a physiatrist. She has her eyes straight on this job and works very hard in school to hopefully get there. She continues to work hard and successfully obtain another wonderful year here at Heritage. 
Garrett Peace
Garrett Peace, Sponsor
Mr. Garrett Peace is in his fourth year as a teacher at Heritage High School, where he teaches 9th Grade English, Honors British Literature, and Journalism. A 2010 alum of Heritage High School, Mr. Peace went on to graduate summa cum laude from Berry College in 2014, receiving his B.A. in English and returning to Ringgold soon after. Mr. Peace greatly enjoys reading and writing but is widely known for his passion for music, traveling throughout the year to music festivals like Big Ears and Shaky Knees and attending live shows whenever possible. His favorite novel is Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, and his favorite musical artist is, at the moment, Pinegrove. He can be reached at [email protected].