Woop, woop, yearbook!

Hannah and the journalism classes of Century High School with their many awards they won. Hannah placed 2nd that day in the layout competition, and would later win multiple awards for photography and writing from the National Scholastic Press Association.

I admit it. I was a full-blown yearbookie in high school. I was that girl on the sidelines taking photos, getting as close to the action as I could without getting in the way. I would interview students, trying to find a piece of their life to plug into a piece of history. I later went onto newspaper staff during college and I was still that girl on the sidelines taking photos, interviewing subjects and documenting collegiate life. Both experiences taught me so much about the importance of journalism. But it was my senior year in high school that sparked my intrigue in the journalism field.

I had started at Century High School in the late spring of my junior year upon a family move to Bismarck, North Dakota. I was not only trying to get my feet on the ground for the last couple months of school, but also preparing for what seemed like the year that would never come: my senior year. I had wanted to take photography, really. It ran in my family’s blood and I wouldn’t deny that I had the same knack for documenting life and playing with depth of field like my great-grandfather, father, and cousins did. Yet as I asked my classmates about taking a photography class, they said the same thing: the photography class was a joke. If you wanted to really enjoy photography, take yearbook instead. Upon debating between an invitation to sing in jazz choir and yearbook during my 6^th period, I ultimately chose yearbook.

What I didn’t anticipate is how much that decision altered the course of my life. That singular school-year inspired my soul, gave me lasting memories and friendships, and ultimately I came away with so much knowledge about everything from marketing to photography to writing to design. In that one 52-minute class every day, I learned invaluable lessons that ultimately led to my decision to go into journalism.

I don’t find it coincidental that President Reagan declared the first week of October in 1987 “national yearbook week”, the year I was born.
During an address, President Reagan hits on every point in why I loved yearbook,
“School yearbooks not only chronicle educational achievement and school tradition but are a part of them. For nearly two centuries American students have produced yearbooks to commemorate the accomplishments of the school year and to compose a lasting record, written and pictorial, of campus, classmates, teachers, and school staff.

In later years, alumni treasure their yearbooks for the memories they hold of times gone by and friends of long ago. The students who compile yearbooks likewise treasure all that the experience can teach them about teamwork and about writing, the graphic arts, and business skills. The practical cooperation and specialization that students learn in yearbook production stand them in good stead when they enter college or pursue other opportunities.”

I now find it an absolute thrill to work with a company that produces yearbooks. It’s so exciting to watch the creativity and hard work come through into a finished product for students to enjoy for years to come. I hope whatever little tid-bits I can give you will help inspire you to produce better yearbooks.

Were you or are you a yearbookie? What things did you learn?
*Woop, Woop, YEARBOOK!*