Maya Kruger is a senior who has been on the yearbook and newspaper staff all four years of highschool and has had a tremendous impact on both. She joined the yearbook staff freshman year through her experience she has, ”learned a lot about leadership, management, and communication” in order to achieve her goals.
She first joined with the goal of pursuing her photography, and it has, “definitely been a creative outlet” for her and she is grateful for the many opportunities she has had to take photos. Also, the various events she has been able to participate in as a photographer as opposed to a regular spectator has given her a “unique insight” that she would not have otherwise gotten. Kruger values these unique experiences and varying persectives along with the skills they have developed as a key part of her high school experience.
Not only does she enjoy those aspects of the class, but learning how to implement and excel in using yearbook and newspaper softwares such as indesign, adobe, and photoshop have taught her skills that will extend far beyond her time at Dana.
Kruger has committed to Montana State University in their honors college program, and there she plans to major in business marketing with a focus on small business. She is tremendously excited for this opportunity and to further extend the skills she has sustained here at Dana.
Additionally, the amount of work that goes into the production of our yearbook is immense. Maya not only creates page templates, but she spends school and after school time taking pictures, photoshopping said pictures, coming up with page ideas, and spending hours editing. The coordination that goes into the yearbook is “hard work” but also immensely gratifying to “see that work pay off”. Because of the workload, Maya advises newcomers to the staff to be aware of that work but also to enjoy it, because the payoff and experience she and others have gained is of key importance.
Aside from her important role on staff, Kruger also has had a meaningful impact on the community. Her most proud achievement and most important out of school activity is a group called CTeens. CTeens is a group that strives to create Jewish kids together and foster relationships between them. It can be “hard to connect and build those relationships with other Jewish kids”, so this organization is very important to Maya. She is a leader of the San Clemente chapter and organizes the group to participate in various volunteering events and bonding experiences. This group not only is important to individual relationships, but also to the well being of our overall community, so Maya’s work here is essential.
Author: Tessa Anderson
