Shamrocket staff to produce CD supplement
The yearbook staff at Westfield High School in Nobelsville, Ind., is taking a giant leap into the new millennium by producing a CD supplement to package along with the 2000 Shamrocket.
Adviser Nikki Davis said she got the idea last year after viewing a current events CD-ROM. She immediately realized the merits of producing one as a supplement to the yearbook.
“It really struck me as something we could do,” she said. “The students became really psyched about it and so did I. The more I get into it, the more excited I get.”
Extraordinary ad sales in excess of $10,000, coupled with funds from an outside technology grant, made it possible to purchase the equipment and software needed. The new equipment being utilized includes a high-end computer with internal Zip drive and a CD burner. The CD will be produced with Macromedia Director 7.0.
“We’ll be building it, burning it and replicating it all on our own,” Davis said of the CD. “It’s going to be a learning process for all of us. Even if it doesn’t succeed completely, we’ll at least learn the technology.”
To ensure a smooth transition into the new venture, Davis said she would be recruiting a separate staff to oversee the CD-ROM project. Five to six CD staff members will join a yearbook staff of 28.
Davis stressed that the CD-ROM would only supplement the yearbook and was not in any way meant to replace it. She said the CD would only be available to those who buy the yearbook. Coverage plans for the CD-ROM include a virtual tour of the school, student life and sports highlights, and a special century retrospective that will appear exclusively on the CD.
“We’re going to be very careful not to do anything with the CD that would hurt the integrity of the yearbook,” Davis said.
Small staff exceeds ad sales goal in competitive market
A David-and-Goliath-type ad sales war is being carried out in Ohio, where yearbook students at small Mapleton High School are going toe to toe with their contemporaries at larger Ashland High School. In the highly competitive market, Mapleton staffers exceeded their ad sales goal of $6,000 this year.
Jeff Steele, adviser, said he divided the staff of 24 into four sales groups. Each group was assigned a fourth of the businesses targeted and was required to collect a minimum of $1,500 in ad sales.
“We set our goal at half of what the cost of the yearbook was going to be,” Steele said. “The students just did a super job. We had two groups with more than $2,000 in sales. I think it’s pretty remarkable they were able to sell as much as they did considering our situation. We really don’t have any special gimmicks in place.”
Steele cited the perseverance of his students as the main reason for their success.
“This was just an excellent group of students,” he said. “They would make sales calls on their own time and were extremely diligent in making call backs. Our goal has been to get an answer, either ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ from every business we approach.”
Another approach that has helped the Chevalier staff succeed is targeting school groups in their ad sales, according to Steele. The yearbook staff has sold ads to several school groups, including the FFA, Student Council and National Honor Society.
“This gives these groups more exposure, while at the same time helping us boost our ad sales,” Steele said.
The yearbook staff sells the bulk of their ads during two days where they are excused from classes, Steele said. All other ad sales are done in the evenings on their own time.
