COURTESY VIKKI HARMON

Vance High School's yearbook staff meets virtually to publish its final book before the transition to Julius Chambers High in the fall. They need $5,000 for publication and to get copies to every student who wants one.

Vikki Harmon is determined to document Vance High School’s final year.

But she needs help.

Harmon, the school yearbook advisor, is leading a community-wide fundraising campaign to pay for publication and make it available to all students – no small task given the financial realities of a pandemic economy on some families. The initiative, she insists, is important to give 2,100 students an opportunity to record and celebrate their stories before the school transitions to Julius Chambers High for the 2021-22 academic year.

“This is the last Zebulon B. Vance High School yearbook,” said Harmon, who hopes to raise $5,000 by month’s end. “Next year we’ll be moving to Julius Chambers, so this is the end of the Vance legacy. Last year due to COVID and the pandemic the yearbook was not printed [but] the school made history. The football team won state, the girls basketball team won state, ROTC has some great events take place as well as some other departments around the school but that wasn't documented anywhere.”

When the pandemic forced closure of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to in-person instruction last year, it shuttered the 2020 yearbook. Using virtual meetings and social distancing, the 2021 student staff is building an all-inclusive publication by combining two years of memories into one book, which is due to the printer on March 15.

“A yearbook is a school’s history book,” Harmon said. “It’s important that you know you have those things documented so that it’s known that when we go back and we pull those yearbooks and we see those people, their names or what they did in a school. It’s a part of their history or part of their story so this yearbook is a must.”

Getting from idea to reality is challenging, though. Harmon is in her first year as advisor, and the yearbook staff of 21 is new from top to bottom. Throw in the disruption of school activities, and students are looking for anything approaching normalcy. Picture day, for instance, brought together students who hadn’t see each other in nearly a year.

“We’ve had several challenges and hurdles to overcome to continue getting stories and continue getting pictures and just promoting and getting students involved, period,” she said. “Even my yearbook class …we came back in January, especially my seniors, you could feel a solemn tone, the realization that it’s possible that they may not have any in-person school, and the roller coaster [of] we’re coming back, we’re not back. I could really see it and feel the toll that it’s taken on the students, so trying to motivate them, keep them encouraged and keep activities and putting things out there for the community and the students to participate in has been challenging but it’s also been rewarding.”

For details or to contribute, email at [email protected].

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