Mount Carmel juniors and seniors were pleased recently to receive their 2013 Oriflamme, but senior Cullen Walsh admitted a bit of confusion when he looked at the cover of the yearbook. “It was interesting, but I didn’t know what it meant.”

Walsh’s classmate, Myles Talton wasn’t exactly sure about the meaning of the cover either, but had an idea. “I figured it was about prime numbers, but I wasn’t totally sure.”

Prime numbers are greater than one and have no positive divisors other than one and itself. With 13 being a prime number, the cover – which featured the words “prime” and “time” in a crossword puzzle-like design, referenced the year.  Numerous other prime numbers decorated the cover.  Despite Walsh’s confusion, in this writer’s opinion the cover was something different and a great idea.  It was more interesting than the 2012 year book, which featured the image of an iPad as the cover.

One similarity between the 2012 and 2013 yearbooks was that they both were given out two years after the respective senior classes had graduated.  While some students question the delay, the reality is that producing a quality yearbook is a big task, and with a relatively small staff, the work takes a long time.

It isn’t just the cover that causes the 2013 Oriflamme to stand out.  The content includes many vivid photos, a variety of interesting stories, and short senor essays on a variety of topics.   There’s focus on MC students helping younger children and trying to make a better community, and gives plenty of attention to both sports and clubs.

Like any good yearbook, the most recent Oriflamme succeeds in stirring memories.  For junior Matt McKay, “it brought back things I maybe forgot.”

On the other hand, senior David Tabb found himself feeling nostalgic as he “saw the faces of old friends” who no longer attend MC.”

As the members of Class of 2015 nears the end of its MC journey, they can only hope that next year’s Yearbook class  puts as much time and thought into recording their experiences.