The Elected Elective: Producing a Life-Long Memory

Photo Credit: Meredith Lawson

Junior Tori Hosey works on completing a spread before the March deadline.

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Meredith Lawson
March 12, 2010
Filed under Classes & Clubs

Yearbook Production Class is not the average elective, partly because you have to apply to be accepted into the course. For next year’s staff, the instructor, Ms. Woodhouse is currently hosting interviews to see who is eligible. Students have to be responsible, hard working, creative, and able to commit a lot of time to be a part of the class.

The class as a whole works together throughout the school year to create our Spotsylvania High School Yearbook. Usually, the end of the previous year or the start of the current year, they all decide on a theme which is carried throughout the entire book: in a spread’s copy, the sections, and spin-offs.  From there, they assign about three spreads to each member to be completed at various times.

One of the most vital things to the staff is meeting deadline. A certain number of the spreads have to be accomplished at different times in the year to be sent off to Herff Jones, the company that produces the book. If deadlines are missed, it costs the school more and more to pay for the book. They even celebrate by throwing parties when they tackle all their spreads on time.

The students are usually allowed two weeks in which they are expected to get pictures, information, and quotes from the sport, club, or class they are covering. If the student is assigned to a club or class, they are usually expected to get the pictures themselves.

“Going out and taking pictures is the best part for me,” stated Sophomore Alyssa Neal.

After taking the pictures, they have to properly tag and assign them to slots on the spread. A copy is also included in a spread where the staff member has to gather information on the section they are covering. For example, if a student is assigned to the golf spread, they might want to figure out what a typical practice consists of, who the coach is, what are their game or practice traditions, and their ranking for the season.  From that, they merge all the information into about 100-150 words that is included in the spread.  Also, it is good to have quotes from students who are a part of the club, team, or class so the copy is truly student-related.

Basically, throughout the year, the staff is just repeating the process described above. However, there is also advertising. The staff has to promote their book so that the students will buy it. Posters, flyers, power points, announcements, and participation at lunch all go into the advertising process. Some days, the staff will dedicate their class period to staying in the commons area for the lunch shifts and promote their book. Also, students are sometimes are expected to stay after school and spend extra time on finishing their spread or helping with various other things.

All in all, the staff puts a lot of time and effort in the span of a school year to get their goal accomplished: the Spotsylvania High School Yearbook.