2023 grads of Omaha catholic school still waiting on yearbooks

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Photos in a phone gain sentimental value when printed on pages of a yearbook.

“Look back and just reminisce and have the nostalgia to be like oh let me go back and look at my high school times and look in the book,” said 2023 Roncalli Catholic grad Zaya Hunter.

But 73 Roncalli Catholic students who purchased yearbooks in 2023 with delivery scheduled for after August 1, 2023, are still waiting on delivery including two who graduated more than 17 months ago.

“It was my senior year and it was important to me and most students to try to get in each photo they can so that they’re in the yearbook so that’s very frustrating,” said Maliyah Heuertz.

“It’s frustrating because we were in that class and we were all under the mindset that the yearbook was finished,” Zaya said.

With only a photo of the cover to go on, Carrie Heuertz paid $95 for the yearbook which included the extra cost of a personal message page for her daughter.

“I wish you guys had access to these letters and you guys could see what the parents wrote because they are from the heart,” Carrie said.

Producing a yearbook takes a team that includes students, a school advisor, a professional photographer and a publisher.

“If we had communicated better and done that and maybe had been more adamant then maybe those things would have gone quicker with the process of getting the things we needed in order to make this complete,” said Roncalli Catholic Principal JJ Stoffel. “The last thing that we would want is to have a delay and we own that.”

Sports coverage fills several chapters in any yearbook. Roncalli officials say much of the delay can be blamed on a miscommunication with the professional photography group that took team pictures more than a year ago. Those photos are now being downloaded by the yearbook advisor.

The school is getting help from the professional photographer so the photos and formatting should be complete by Friday. Then sent to the publisher Entourage which tells 6 News the normal production time for hardcover yearbooks is three weeks but its working with the school to accelerate production as fast as possible.

“Then will we get those out to the students and once again students will be able to pick them up at the from office or we will be sending them out and mailing where needed,” Stoffel said.

The principal says an apology letter will be included.

The 2022-23 Roncalli Catholic yearbook cover theme is “Our Story” and after waiting more than a year some grads and parents are anxious to get to the ending.

Roncalli Catholic administrators say changes are being made to ensure the delay in the 2023 yearbook delivery doesn’t happen again. The yearbooks for 2024 came in on schedule.

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