Having completed 60% of the 2026 yearbook, The Howl has created fresh ideas with new specialty elements to represent the authenticity of Southwest.

This year’s theme was created from different ideas presented from the previous year’s staff, with this year’s line of editors brainstorming on the theme’s direction.

“I think it’s a very important lesson, especially for high schoolers, when actually applying [it] to their own lives,” editor-in-chief Isabella Reyes said. “It’s important to constantly push yourself to be authentic without fear of limitations or what other people might think and that’s what this year’s theme really focuses on.”

The staff decided to purchase a unique specialty font to fit the theme alongside with determining their specialty colors.

“We feel like [the specialty font] really helps communicate the verbal theme that we have and it correlates with the design, because it’s something fun, it’s something playful,” Reyes said. “We really enjoy using this font and we’re excited to see what it looks like when the book is finally put together.”

With their final deadline being set around late February, The Howl staff have collaborated with each other to complete their work, with group editors helping with their designated tasks.

“Our biggest success was just being able to combine such different people into one group and just actually becoming genuine friends,” group editor Stacey Vo said. “I was a bit worried at first, because I previously never talked to some of the girls in my group and I felt a little bit more comfortable with my old group last year. I had never been in a position to lead someone on such a high level before, so it was really nice, being able to work together as a group and actually being successful.”

The yearbook’s price has been indefinitely set at $90, with the staff planning on doing a number of marketing campaigns to promote the upcoming yearbook in January and will also reveal the theme.

“People should buy the yearbook because the yearbook staff worked extremely hard on it,” copy editor KJ Palacios said. “Not only do we already face criticism for previous year’s because a lot of people always seem unsatisfied with the yearbook, but we really do work hard. I think one of the best things about the yearbook are the specialty spreads, because those are where we really get the most student coverage, also because it involves a lot of recent topics.”