Change is one thing you can be sure will happen whether you expect it or not. Yearbook production is not exempt. Entering the second half of the year and with deadlines approaching, you, as the yearbook adviser, must take note of changes that arise and make sure they make it in the yearbook. Fluidity is the key component to a successful yearbook creation.
Student clubs may expand or diminish depending on students' interests. You may plan a page spread for clubs and have to add additional pages. Often students create a new club out of response to a social-political movement or shared interests around a topic or event. For example, a new sport may emerge, like flag football. The yearbook staff has to be ready to change and shift sections to include a new spread.
How can you prepare for these changes? Enlist your staff to keep you in "the know." Ask them to pay attention in their classes, and to review student conversations and social media comments for new developments. What is happening around school? Are there new sports activities to check out? Are students talking about a new club surrounding a particular interest? There is a strong chance you cannot add pages. Therefore you need to shift priorities to eliminate one and add a replacement. Or shrink space to work within the confines of your page count.
Student Leadership Roles
Because you have enlisted the staff to "be on the lookout," they will be busy taking notes and reporting to you in the leadership weekly meetings. They are not your only source of changes in the school. Ask colleagues, staff members, and administration for their valuable input. Watch the school newspaper for insight into sports, clubs, and school activities. Enlist your social media staff member to sift through the social media account for updates.
Adapt to Big Changes
Remember that current political, social, and economic affairs can affect the student body. Have there been weather events, natural disasters, or personal family issues that impacted the community and campus life? International events? Be flexible and prepared to make space for a memorium, explanation of the impact, or highlight of the issue. Another opportunity is to interview international students about a feast or holiday celebration. The unexpected topics add layers of flavor to the yearbook theme.
Leave Room for the Ordinary
While you may "make room" for the unexpected, there may not be anything to "expect." If you are left with extra pages, how will you fill them? Enjoyable and interesting fillers are spotlight interviews. Faculty members, alumni, administrators, and staff members are great candidates to interview and they have such interesting stories! Assign staff to complete the interviews and prepare to fill the potential empty places in the book.
Spotlight Interviews
Once the interview material is collected, and if you find the pages do not need to be filled, how will you use the material? These beautiful exposes can be consolidated into a few quotes, and the print size can be reduced to fit into small spaces. They can be fit at the bottom of class photographs, or under faculty and staff photos. These boost the narrative and add creative flair to the layouts.
Be aware that the Senior and Freshman Sections need to be flexible in their space. Make adjustments depending on the size of the classes. Seniors need extra space for their unique layouts covering their stories, to say thank you, and goodbye. Freshmen could use more room if they are a large group, and that space helps them feel welcomed to the school. They will be excited to see their pages when they open their yearbooks! You'll understand what you need to change as the year evolves.
A gentle reminder, the drop-dead deadline issued by the publisher must be met. Your goal is to be finished two weeks prior! Remind the students to ask for help, and to work together to solve the problems. You set the tone by keeping calm, encouraging the students to adjust to the changes, and adapting to the flow.
We walk alongside you with advice and help for those unexpected changes. Use our tools to help you move forward and complete the book: Our website, www.unitedyearbook.net , and our newsletter, podcast, and blog, are tools available to you as you move forward to complete the book. Schedule your yearbook 1-on-1 consult here.
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Contributor: Lucy McHugh comes to United Yearbook Printing from a 39-year career in public and private school education. She was a former visual art teacher and yearbook adviser. She received a Bachelors of Science in Art from Columbia College in Columbia, SC, a Masters in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Nebraska in 2000, and in 2014 earned a Certificate in Catholic School Leadership from Loyola Marymount University. Lucy enjoys her family, making art and gardening.
Editor: Donna Ladner obtained a B.A. in Education and a minor in English from California Baptist University, and a M.S. in ESL from USC, Los Angeles. After she married Daniel, their family moved to Indonesia with a non-profit organization and lived cross-culturally for 15 years before returning to the U.S in 2012. Donna has been working as an editor and proofreader for TSE Worldwide Press and its subsidiary, United Yearbook since 2015.
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