All of the memories from throughout the school year, put together in one book? That’s a tall order! The yearbook staff has their work cut out for them each year, documenting all the great school events in one year. So how does this book actually get put together?
The yearbook class has twenty six students and one teacher, and they spend the school year building the yearbook from scratch. Before the year even starts, they go to a summer camp where they decide on the color scheme, cover design, and overarching “story.” Then once the school year starts, staff members are trained in: photography, copywriting, interviewing, and graphic design. Graphic design in particular can be difficult to learn, as Mrs. Maritnez explains, “Using a new graphic design software is something a lot of kids need to learn coming in, and even the yearbook vocabulary itself is like a whole new language to learn.”
Once the staff is ready they begin a cycle. They brainstorm ideas for the newspaper, interview staff and students, write stories based on the interviews, and then put the elements together. It’s important in that last step to maintain the theme that the whole yearbook needs to portray. “The theme connects our style, typography, storytelling goals, and making sure that theme is cohesive from beginning to end and it all works together,” Martinez says. Each cycle, the students will produce 6-7 spreads. Since the book needs to be submitted in March, there is an extra cycle for stories that happens between then and mid-April. This small section is then seamlessly inserted into the book to complete it.
Japanese Exchange Students