For 10 years, students in Anita Marie Wertz’s yearbook courses have been responsible for writing the history of Cesar Chavez High School, the school district’s first new comprehensive campus in a nearly 50-year period.

By Tara Cuslidge-Staiano

When Cesar Chavez High School opened ten years ago, its students and staff came, for the most part, from different campuses from Stockton Unified feeder schools. The freshman were from middle school campuses. The sophomores mainly from the district’s nearest, and newest at 46 years old, campus.

“We had freshman and sophomores at the school,” said Anita Marie Wertz, a longtime Stockton Unified School District teacher and yearbook adviser.

There were no traditions at the new campus. There was no history. Chavez was in need of memory makers to document the school’s emerging story. Ten years later, the 2015 yearbook continues to celebrate the diverse student body and the tales within the walls on the Windflower Drive campus near Hammer Lane.

Wertz, who taught yearbook and journalism courses at the now defunct Daniel Webster Middle School for 14 years and Spanish at Edison High School for eight, was hired on as Chavez’s first yearbook teacher.

The challenge, she said, was establishing a culture of productivity immediately. And teaching the students to understand how important a high school yearbook is in establishing the school’s story.

“One of the first things we did, and the kids didn’t understand it, was that we had to come up with an obituary policy,” she said.

The students asked why.

“Did someone die?” she remembers being asked. No, she replied. But if someone does, we’ll know how to cover it.

“Hopefully,” she recalls saying. “We never have to use this.”

Over two class periods in four days, those first students worked to create the policy. From that, they developed and built more. Wertz said a culture soon developed. Progress continued to move quickly. Deadlines loomed even for a new staff.

The name was chosen. “The Myth” pays homage to Chavez’s Titan mascot. It was, and continues to be, the only National Scholastic Press Association high school yearbook with that moniker.

“Those first students … they were the basis of everything we’ve done since then,” she said. “There was a lot of growth we had to do that first year. Very, very quickly.”

The theme of this year’s book is 10K Gold, a reflection of the school and yearbook’s decade.

Senior Editor in Chief Tauhjahne Page joined the staff as a sophomore on recommendation of her sister. She took a chance on the chance. She was immediately hooked.

“You really get to see how the yearbook is formed and made and see how much time and effort is put into it,” she said. “It’s a really fun experience to be in here.”

It’s also a bit nerve wracking, she said, specifically in an important year like this one where the book is expected to be more grand. This is the book students will go back to in five, ten or fifty years and look at when they want to remember high school, Page said.

“It’s more than a picture book,” she said. “It’s history.”

Ashley Moral is the incoming editor in chief. The final pages were sent for this year’s book in March, with a receive date expected in mid May. Planning for next year is now beginning, Moral said.

“It’s a lot of pressure to make it amazing,” she said.

Moral is working with Wertz to brainstorm for next year, with ideas for themes and page spreads already being discussed, even before 2015 books arrive on campus.

“It’s a magical feeling,” said Moral of seeing the books for the first time. “All the work you’ve put together the last year all comes together.”

The Myth: 2005-2014

Once Upon a Titan

This first Chavez High School yearbook aimed to set precedent and introduce the student body to itself.

If

The 2007 yearbook began a theme of using number indicators to identify each book, with the two-letter name.

Seeds of Life

"Seeds of Life" celebrated the first graduating class, who planted their own "seeds" at Chavez High.

This Belongs to Us

The 2009 yearbook marked the first graduating class who had been at the school all four years, and a four-word title.

Told In Our Own Words

Five words told the story of the 2010 yearbook and student body.

Photos

The title "Photos" contained six letters and celebrated the diversity of the student body with a focus on images.

Imagine

"Imagine" continued the theme reflecting numbers, with the word containing seven letters for the seventh year.

Watch Us Dream Beyond Infinity

The infinity symbol is an eight turned.

To The Nines

Wertz said the 2014 book often needed explanation, but focused on celebrating the student body to it's highest point.