The Class of 2026 will graduate this weekend. For E. C. Glass High School 12th graders, the last few days of school were full of heartfelt goodbyes and a contagious sense of excitement for the future.
Decades from now, they won’t have to rely on fuzzy recollections to reminisce about their senior year. One glossy, colorful book, its margins full of well-wishes scribbled by peers and teachers, will transport them back to the halls of their alma mater.
The Crest has carefully captured the essence of E. C. Glass High School for generations. Immortalizing the moments and people that defined each senior class, the yearbook is treasured by alumni and current students alike.
The yearbook’s value isn’t just sentimental—it’s received state and national recognition for its exceptional design and content on many occasions. The 2025 edition was featured twice in the latest volume of the prestigious national “Portfolio: The Best of Varsity Yearbook” publication. It was chosen from a pool of 900 applicants as one of the highest-caliber examples of yearbook creativity, design, and storytelling in the U.S.
Photo caption: The 2025 edition of the Crest, as featured in the national “Portfolio” publication.
The Crest has been featured in “Portfolio” every year since 2021. In 2024 and 2025, it won the highest honors in the Virginia High School League contest. Led by teacher Ashley Marot, The Crest has been critically acclaimed for its cohesive themes, engaging content, polished design, and encapsulation of the school’s culture.
Students create a new edition of The Crest each year, gaining valuable journalism, design, photography, communication, and leadership skills along the way. Under Marot’s guidance, they lead every step of the process, from initial brainstorming in the fall to printing and distribution in the spring.
“Yearbook is so much more than a typical class. It’s a business class, a marketing class, a photography class, a graphic design class…students are working on a budget to produce a 200-plus-page yearbook,” Marot said. “That type of accountability is really important for students to take ownership over the work they’re doing. And at the end of the year, people are buying the product they’ve made and complimenting their work. They’re making an impact on the school.”
Marot was named the 2025-26 Lynchburg City Schools (LCS) Teacher of the Year. She’s known for empowering students to explore their creativity, challenge themselves, and connect with their local community. The yearbook program encapsulates her student-centered teaching style; pop into a class, and you’ll see students tapping into their unique skills and working together to produce, promote, and sell a high-quality product. Marot has a knack for engaging every learner, no matter their background or interests.
In a single class period, she’ll coach students on their interview skills, give feedback on design spreads, consult with editors on creative direction, and help writers manage assignment deadlines. Student editors lead teams of their peers and keep the production process on track.
“It’s like a job. The other people in the room are almost like your coworkers. You’re focusing on very long-term goals. It’s like running a business,” 11th grader Gabe Hackworth said. “It would be very easy to stay in my comfort zone, but this class pushed me to work on spreads, do design layouts, do interviews…I’ve had the opportunity to try new things and gotten a better view of who I am as a person in the process.”
The skills students develop through The Crest equip them for life after graduation. Many are directly applicable to career fields like journalism, graphic design, marketing, communications, and photography. Students also sharpen transferable soft skills, including leadership, teamwork, time management, and communication.
Each class becomes its own tight-knit community as students collaborate on The Crest. Many forge meaningful friendships through the program.
“Yearbook is a class where you can be yourself and have fun. We always made sure we were a family, and we were tight-knit. Even if we were behind on deadlines, we worked together to make sure we got things done,” 12th grader Mimi Harvey said.
In addition to fostering bonds among colleagues, The Crest helps students feel more connected to the broader school community. They act as documentarians of student life and culture, photographing events, highlighting student clubs, and interviewing peers and E. C. Glass staff members.
“It’s a great way to make friends and experience the school in a way you haven’t before. Yearbook forces you to go out, meet new people, and learn about the activities and clubs that you might not know about otherwise. I’ve learned a lot about my school, and I’ve made a lot of friends through it,” 11th grader Brie Walters said.
Part of yearbook students’ connection to the community is participation in a century-long school tradition. This year’s seniors will graduate on Sunday in the footsteps of generations of alumni who similarly invested care and love into documenting their community through The Crest.
The shelves in Marot’s classroom are full of past editions of The Crest, stretching back for decades. Each is a snapshot of the school at a specific moment in time: its unique culture, the people who worked and learned there, and the memories that brought them together.
“I think a yearbook is important because it sheds light on every single student in the building. You meet so many people, and they all have different perspectives and different things going on in their lives. It’s important to highlight that,” said 11th grader Kiah Kryger. “When I joined, I thought it was really cool that I could be remembered and leave a mark on the school through the yearbook.”
The school year ended this week, and students added this year’s book to Marot’s collection with pride. It’s a time capsule of E. C. Glass High School and the people who made it special in 2025 and 2026. Long after the Class of 2026 has graduated, may it continue to inspire young Hilltoppers to create, reflect, and connect with those around them.
