Celebrate yearbook every day
Written by Kris Mateski, CJE
I hope you took some time to honor the yearbook at your school, and have fun, by celebrating National Yearbook Week Oct. 4-11. It’s always good to take a step back and remember why you create a yearbook, reward the hard work that goes into it, and relax to make all that work worthwhile.
That week may be over, but the celebratory spirit doesn’t have to stop. Remember, you and your staff are spending a great deal of time creating a book that will help students remember this year anytime. Make sure to spend a little time daily or weekly to honor that tradition. There are a number of small ways to do this.
- Staff cheer or song – A staff cheer or song might pep you up. Use the school fight song or another song that can be adapted as your staff song and sing it at the beginning of class every day or to start staff meetings. Consider TV theme songs, Broadway musicals and popular music. Or, create your own cheer or write new words to a favorite song melody.
Photo and copy contests – A little friendly competition can spur improvement. Have staff members select the best photo they took or copy they wrote and enter it into a weekly staff contest. This gives staff members the chance to analyze the work being done and provides kudos for good work.
- Music – Afternoon and night work sessions get tedious without background music. Since most kids have some sort of MP3 player, get a portable dock with speakers to play everyone’s music. You will improve the atmosphere in the room while expanding everyone’s musical knowledge.
- Look back – You need to look forward to keep your yearbook trendy. But looking at your school’s previous books will remind your students about why they are creating this book of memories. During a work night, invite parents and grandparents to come and share what is special to them about yearbooks and their school memories.
Your staff needs to remember why they are taking photos at a cold, finger-numbing football game, turning down a date from the cute new boy to cover the forensics tournament on Friday night, and working late on a yearbook deadline instead of studying for that calculus test tomorrow. A beautiful yearbook they will receive in a few months is worth the sacrifice, but candy and a song today will keep spirits up during the school year.
2 Responses to “Celebrate yearbook every day”
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October 07, 2014 at 12:32 pm, Rachael Keisling said:
This is a great article on here. I was on the yearbook staff in high school and used Walsworth to create my school’s yearbooks. The members were dedicated as well as hard workers. It was a phenomenal experience to be on there for two years. When I glance at every page in the yearbook, I don’t just think back and look through my assigned pages. I realize, as a person, how much I achieved on the yearbook staff and what an impact it had on me. Being on there gave me confidence to major in Journalism. Although I still have to correct my sentences and punctuation from time to time, I learned how the yearbook staff should write stories and picked up on it right away.
Yearbooks are timelines and memories-the activities you joined, the people you met and the inspirational teachers to be thankful for, those are memorable and worth to share with classmates at a high school reunion. Not only should you look back and see how times have changed, but it is important to keep in contact with close friends and share your memorable moments with them. If you made minor errors in the yearbook, always know that you can learn from mistakes and grow. Overall, great advice and it is worth celebrating a yearbook that you and your staff published.
October 07, 2014 at 1:37 pm, Evan Blackwell said:
Really awesome perspective Rachael! Thanks for the comments!
Evan Blackwell
Editor – Yearbooks Blog, Walsworth Yearbooks