A frantic spring comes to a close

This is the time of year when educators and journalists breath a huge sigh of relief.

May is over and with it the school year.

The post winter sports period of March through May brings increasing numbers of concerts, plays, awards banquets, festivals and special events, along with track meets and baseball games. There’s something nearly every night and weekend.

The busy schedule certainly keeps newspaper photographers hopping as we bounce from one event to another. Sometimes there are three or four in a single night.

It can be maddening … and exhausting.

We do our best to get representative photos of each event in the paper, often playing catch-up to make sure events from the previous week – or weeks – make it to the pages of the paper.

It’s hectic, but it’s also great fun -- and rewarding. The students from kindergarten through high school perform with pride, often beaming their delight as they take the stage or receive an award. And our small newspaper staff is there for nearly every event, as long as we know about it. Sometimes we don’t know and have to ask someone to send us a photo later.

We certainly work to “chronicle” the events of our community and our schools, and in the nine weeks of newspapers from April 4 to May 30, we have printed 182 photos of students and school events, with more to follow next week. That’s 20 per issue, plus 11 baseball photos.

We take camera and notebook in hand night after night during the spring, and I joke that we all need to reintroduce ourselves to our spouse.

But this isn’t a column to pat ourselves on the back for coverage. We signed up for this, and we love it. Rather, this is my way of thanking everyone for their help.

Thank you to all of the music directors, advisors, sponsors, coaches, administrators and others who let us know what’s going on in our schools – especially the school secretaries who alert us to events and spend a great deal of time identifying photographs for us. We literally could not do it without everyone’s help.

Thank you, also, to members of our newspaper staff who go the extra mile to see events covered with camera and/or notebook: Stormy Jameson, Annette Moss, Patti Carpenter and Carla Wensky and all members of our staff who work hard to produce and distribute the paper each and every week. Thanks, also, to student writers Avery Layne and Whitney Hendershot, plus, from the community, Joe Koritnik, John Bernhisel, Tiffany Minchow and Kennedi Minchow, who stepped in when asked. We have some talented folks who love covering our students and their activities.

And finally, I am forever grateful to my wife, Susan, who for 40 years has put up with the crazy schedule of a newspaperman. She has always been nothing but supportive – always patient and never, ever crabbing about shifting schedules or dinner plans interrupted. Many educators and coaches can relate.

Whew. A school year is complete other than a few remaining photos to publish. And now it’s on to Mustang Days, Byron Days, Cowley Pioneer Day, the Big Horn County Fair and the election. It never really ends.

Thank you to our readers for making us a part of your life on a weekly basis as we cover the myriad events of this wonderful community. We truly appreciate you.