Four words are featured on the cover of the 2020 Cactus Canyon Junior High yearbook.

What will they think?

The rest of the cover, in smaller faded type, features a series of questions. Among them:

What if I’m alone?

What if they don’t want to be my friend?

What if I fail?

What if she says no?

Heavy stuff, but online advisor Jason Davis believes the school’s yearbook, entitled “Oro,” shouldn’t just reflect only the happiest of days in a teenager’s life.

“I want these kids to know when they’re in yearbook they’re not making a happy memory book,” Mr. Davis said. “We’re doing journalism. These kids are people and they deal with some hard things.

“I’ve taken a little bit of heat from people. They say these issues shouldn’t be in a junior high yearbook. But these kids deal with this stuff. Why shouldn’t they write about it? They’re not first graders. They’re 13-, 14-year-old kids.”

The Oro’s willingness to tackle life’s challenges was embraced in the recent National Scholastic Press Association individual awards announcements. Five former Cactus Canyon students were named finalists in three categories: Design of the Year, Story of the Year, Photo of the Year.

To put that number in perspective, only 10 finalists in the country were named for each of the three categories and no school had more finalists than Cactus Canyon. Its finalists:

• Tiffany Hutcheson, Design of the Year
• Rosy Barraza, Story of the Year
• Emily Araiza, Photo of the Year
• Bailey Brummer, Photo of the Year
• Hailey Webb, Photo of the Year

Ms. Barraza, Ms. Araiza and Ms. Brummer are now students at Apache Junction High School.

“They work so hard throughout the year and even though they can’t get recognized for everything they do, it’s nice so many of them end up getting recognized,” Mr. Davis said.

Ms. Hutcheson and Ms. Barraza, in particular, exemplified Mr. Davis’ desire to make the yearbook a more honest representation of life. Ms. Hutcheson was named a finalist for her design on the spread of COVID-19. It was entitled, “The World On Hold.”

Ms. Barraza made it to the finals for a story she did on a 7-year-old girl who, because of a divorce, only gets to see her mother once a year, on Christmas Day.

“I think it shows when kids understand what they’re doing is important, what they’re doing matters, they buy in,” Mr. Davis said.

Having five finalists is all the more remarkable when you consider that the yearbook wasn’t completed when Cactus Canyon went to online learning over spring break because of the Coronavirus. Mr. Davis said 104 of the 112 pages were finished but Ms. Hutcheson’s design, for example, was done while she was at home.

Mr. Davis said COVID-19 restrictions have canceled the awards ceremony normally held in Orlando, Florida, but that a virtual convention will run Thursday through Sunday, with the winner in each category announced on Saturday.

Editor’s note: Scott Bordow is the director of communications and community engagement for Apache Junction Unified School District.