Fiona Durham: A Snapshot of Success
At the beginning of her freshman year, Fiona Durham wanted to take journalism, but was put into yearbook because there weren’t enough people in the class. This small schedule change sparked her interest in yearbook, and she has been active in the class since. “It was actually really awesome. I'm really glad that happened,” she says.
Durham’s freshman year started during the Covid lockdown. Although the year came with new challenges, Durham excelled in the class and became an editor-in-training during her sophomore year. During her junior year she became editor, and has remained in the position through her senior year. As editor, she oversees the work of students in the class and makes executive decisions, including the yearbook theme. This year, the theme is “Through the Lens,” which is inspired by photography. Durham says, “everything's kind of camera themed, with different perspectives to cover as many people as possible… whether you do sports or are totally into drama or mock trial. A lot of times yearbook tends to cover just, like, the sports teams and the popular kids who do everything, and we're trying to kind of widen that and make sure even if you do nothing, and you just go to school, like, we still want to make sure you're covered.”
Mrs. Dowell says, “that was one of the first things that Fiona talked to me about. That's always been one of our top priorities, helping support the effort to make the yearbook inclusive.” Through the Jostens yearbook program, students can be tagged on pages to keep track of which students appear on the pages. Mrs. Dowell explains that Jostens’ goal is to have at least 50% of students appear in the yearbook at least three times. But this year, the yearbook class has gone above and beyond, with a goal to tag every student at least three times.
Fiona’s favorite part of her job is “getting to know so many people,” she says, “I've gotten to know so many people throughout the four years, like even as a freshman. And you also get to become really close to a lot of teachers because you're delivering a lot of like slips to call people out.” Fiona’s ability to connect with others is part of what makes her such a good leader. “She communicates well,” says Mrs. Dowell, “I feel like everybody likes her. She’s just a people person. And that, to me, is one of the top parts of being a leader.”
With nearly four years of yearbook experience, Durham has by far the most knowledge of yearbook planning and execution than anyone at MBHS, including her teacher. This year, Mrs. Dowell is new to yearbook, and Durham says, “she's still learning how to do this. So I've been teaching her, as well as teaching the class because she doesn't really know what to do. So it's a very large responsibility.” Mrs. Dowell agrees that being new to the class has been a challenge this year. “I've had to learn by doing, which is fun and challenging,” she says. “And I'm very grateful for all of the help and support that Fiona and really the team has given us, like, it's been a really strong team effort. I’d like to give a big thank you to her. Because she's made this first year something I want to continue, and a lot of that has to do with how great of a leader she is.”
On top of the demanding role of yearbook editor, Durham is also a team captain with Tailer Morison for girls basketball. She started playing basketball in fourth grade, and has been playing ever since. “It’s pretty demanding. It's six days a week and it's pretty intense,” she says. Balancing her yearbook work with basketball is no easy task. Managing her time wisely has been key to getting everything done and maintaining balance. “We have strict deadlines,” she says, “the printers have to print the books, so there's no ‘oh, I'll do it tomorrow.’ I have to get it done day of. I just balance out my work and not put it all in one night so it doesn't get overwhelming.” By participating in a higher intensity sport as well as a creative elective, Durham says, “I think the two kind of contrast each other in a way where it's two good things that I can have fun with.”
Fiona Durham’s ability to balance a full course load and leadership positions in several school activities so well is incredibly impressive. “Basketball is a really demanding program,” says coach Katy Conlin. “We asked a lot of her but it seems like she was able to do it.” Through her strong work ethic and enthusiasm, she works to make MBHS a more fun and inclusive place through yearbook and as basketball team capitan.
