The deadlines loom, and Emily Snow wonders why she puts herself through the stress of being an editor of the Westminster High School yearbook.
"But then once you see the pages go in and they're really well done, it makes up for it," said Emily, a senior in her second year on the staff, now as a student life editor.
She's thinking she might even do this for a living.
"I decided I really like it. I like getting the stories and finding out what people think," Emily said.
The Westminster High School yearbook and newspaper, both called the Owl, won this year's top honors from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, at Columbia University in New York.
It is the most prestigious school publication award in the country, reserved for those that rank in the top 5 percent after rigorous and detailed scoring.
Students say they believe they won the award by taking their jobs seriously and keeping an eye on what their readers need to know.
"We cover issues that affect the students. We try to make sure we're producing a newspaper for our consumers, as opposed to just covering what you'd like to write about," said Jen Brothers, a senior and co-editor of the newspaper. "I love writing, and it's something I've even thought about as a career."
"I think it's a lot of people who have the dedication, who push themselves to do what they have to do," Emily said.
"I really pushed myself to meet deadlines. It makes you accountable to other people."
If the students who work under her don't get their stories done, she has to compensate.
But the scofflaws don't get off scot-free.
Emily wanted to require students who miss deadline to apologize in front of the whole class, but a more discreet policy of taking points off the student's grade remains the punishment.
Yearbook adviser and English teacher Lee Ann Peck said student editors are not shy about reporting who works and who doesn't.
"They tell me, 'Take points off this week for this person,' " she said.
Both she and newspaper adviser Stacy Bricca have to accept any student who wants to sign up for the classes that produce the publications.
The news staff of 12 students meets for one class period a day. The yearbook staff of 52 meets for two periods.
But all the editors, and many writers, spend a good deal more time before and after school, on weekends and holidays.
During the Thanksgiving holiday, they came in for a day to meet a deadline. They worked for a week in the summer.
They attend a half-hour meeting before school at 7 a.m. every Thursday.
"We figured out that Jessica [Naylor] and I spend 24 hours a week on yearbook," said Kristi Niehaus. She and Jessica are the co-editors this year.
That students are willing to put in the time is a good thing, because both teachers said they came in knowing nothing about journalism, but accepted the assignments because they felt it helped them land their jobs as English teachers.
That was 10 years ago for Ms. Peck and three years ago for Ms. Bricca.
"My students taught me how to do the newspaper," said Ms. Bricca, who had been teaching English at Westminster for just a few years before becoming the adviser. She has since taken a weeklong seminar on high school journalism at University of Maryland.
An instructor there told her the important thing was to be willing to give the time; otherwise, students are supposed to do the work.
"He said the only requirement for a newspaper adviser is you speak English and you're breathing," Ms. Bricca said.
"Our kids do it all," Ms. Peck said. "I was hired a week before school started. There were a dozen kids."
Later, when the yearbook and newspaper switched to computers, student editors learned the program and taught Ms. Peck and the other students.
The students have to sell ads to raise money for the $30,000 yearbook and five editions of the newspaper at $375 each. They also have a talent show in February, which raises about $1,800.
The rest of the money comes from the "publication tickets" students buy for $26 at the beginning of the year. For each ticket, $22 goes to the yearbook, $2.50 to the newspaper and $1.50 to Quintessence, the school literary magazine.
Although the publications raise all their own money and have some freedom in what they publish, the Supreme Court ruled about five years ago in favor of the right of high school principals to censor papers and yearbooks.
"I wish we could do more controversial stuff, but we can't because it's the yearbook," Emily said.
"If you show both sides, you should be able to do it," Kristi said.
Peck said she has declined a few student ideas, and they have also by consensus ruled some out if they were inappropriate for a yearbook, which is supposed to be a chronicle of the year, she said.
People are sensitive about their yearbooks.
When the staff used a very small photo of Pope John Paul II's visit to a Catholic youth conference in Denver on its page of national events, a few parents wrote in accusing the book of promoting Catholicism.
The newspaper can pursue more controversial topics.
Last year, a student wrote an opinion piece on legalizing marijuana.
When he came up with the idea, Ms. Bricca reminded him the principal would have to approve the final version, but said that didn't necessarily rule out the topic.
"I said, 'I recommend you do a really great job on it. If you do it right, she's a fair person and she'll [approve] it.'
"It was well written, and it went into the paper," Ms. Bricca said.
Jen and last year's staff were particularly proud of a magazine-style special edition they put out in May on the Holocaust.
"It was difficult because it was a completely different style of writing," she said.
The reading and research included a trip to the Holocaust Museum in Washington.