Yearbook is a club that uses creative skills to compile a book of students and important events from the school year.
“People may think that yearbook is just an easy and fun club, and it is, but many don’t realize the amount of hard work and time the students put in,” said Lori Hart, yearbook club adviser.
Yearbook club teaches kids storytelling, creating and organizing content, engaging their audience, online research, and brand management, according to Herff Jones, an American company that manufactures and sells educational recognition and achievement products.
In the United States, yearbooks are an essential part of the school system’s culture. At Cactus Shadows alone, more than half the student body buys a yearbook each year.
The club is responsible for taking every student and teacher’s photo and compiling them into the book, organized by grade and last name. Yearbook also covers the biggest events from the school year, such as homecoming, prom, or pep rallies.
Students in the club are taught important interviewing, researching, and photography skills in order to produce the best product possible. The students then use these learned skills to cover events and interview students and teachers that were present.
“Once I receive the photos taken by the staffers, I put them into mods on the page and build the spread by numbering the photos clockwise,” said Sophia Dufresne, a senior editor.
The club uses a program called Edesign to organize and create pages of the book online. Editors use this program to format photos and captions that the staff writers provide and come up with.
The first semester is mostly spent planning, organizing, and teaching new skills to students. Once the second semester arrives, it’s go time for the yearbook. Editors begin formatting each page, and they often have to stay long hours to meet deadlines.
The yearbook is usually aimed to be done around April, so that there is enough time for the distribution to students. As of right now, they are on track to meet that deadline and get the yearbook out.
“This year I am the editor-in-chief, and it’s a really different experience from last year because it can be very disorganized and a lot more work. Not only do I have to focus on myself getting things done, but I have to focus on everyone in the class getting their stuff done,” said Peyton Turnwald, junior and yearbook editor-in-chief.
Besides the hard work and deadlines, yearbook can be a fun club for students too. Every Friday, alternating members of the club bring breakfast for the class to enjoy. It’s almost a way to congratulate themselves after long weeks. Along with this, yearbook takes a few students, usually senior editors, to New York each year for the Gold Crown Awards, where they compete to win ‘best yearbook’. However, due to the impact of COVID-19, they have been unable to take this trip the past few years.
Yearbook is a very unique club that teaches students important life skills for the future such as communication, meeting deadlines, and working with others as a team.