Yearbook staff distributes ‘The Ole Miss’ this week at Tad Pad

The 122nd edition of “The Ole Miss” is here.

The editors and creators behind the university’s 2017-18 yearbook are distributing copies this week after spending a year putting it together. Students can pick up their copies of “The Ole Miss” from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Thursday this week in front of the Tad C. Smith Coliseum.

Students must present a valid student ID to receive a yearbook and don’t have to pay anything to receive their respective copies as long as they were enrolled in classes and have paid tuition for both the fall and spring semesters of the 2017-18 academic year.

Students who have only paid for one semester will have to pay $25 to receive a yearbook. Non-students, law students and faculty or staff members will have to pay $50.

“The theme of this year’s yearbook is ‘Building Mississippi,’” editor-in-chief Marisa Morrissette said. “So, we wanted to cover people who were making a difference on campus and different faculty who really help shape students’ lives.”

The yearbook staff intended the theme to be taken literally, as a reference to the constant construction on and around Ole Miss’ campus, as well as metaphorically, as a reference to the role the university is playing in building the future of Mississippi.

“When choosing this year’s theme, ‘Building Mississippi,’ we wanted something to encapsulate the past, present and future,” the yearbook theme page read.

The yearbook features sections about campus, academics, culture, people and athletics.

“The Ole Miss” has been the University of Mississippi’s student-published yearbook since 1897, making this year’s the 122nd edition.

“In the yearbook, we have several different sections,” Morrissette said. “We have different things that have occured on campus this year like Rebel Run, homecoming, The Big Event and theater productions.”

Mackenzie Ross, next year’s editor-in-chief, said the yearbook employs a large staff of writers, photographers and design editors and that she’s proud of this year’s staff and the work it has accomplished. She also said she’s already planning for next year’s edition.

“It’s awesome to see all the work that’s been put into (the yearbook) by the staff,” Ross said. “I’m really excited to let the students now see what we’ve been working on this past year.”

Terrius Harris, a fifth-year general business major, has picked up a yearbook every year he’s been at student at Ole Miss. Harris said he always loves looking at the varying styles of different yearbook editors as well as how their leadership influences “The Ole Miss,” even after their departures.

He especially likes the difference in exterior this year, as “The Ole Miss” continues to adhere to the traditional, vertical style in lieu of the landscape orientation it used to be presented in.

“It’s been awesome to see everything that happens on campus through (changes in) the yearbook,” Harris said.