High School Yearbooks

Getting a yearbook is part of the experience of high school for many people. Many of us keep our yearbooks for the rest of our lives, making it an important part of our high school memorabilia. Yearbooks are something that you show your children and your grandchildren and play a major part in future genealogy.

The yearbook requires the authorization of the school and at least one faculty advisor. More commonly, the yearbook is a joint effort between the yearbook advisor and the journalism or English departments. The yearbook also has the support of the administration, which provides budget approval for the project.

One of the most essential things provided by the school for the yearbook staff is the software to product yearbook. The software helps create layouts for each page, as well as an overall theme and style for the yearbook. The students and staff need to be fully trained on the yearbook software in order to produce the best possible yearbook.

The yearbook is primarily staffed by student volunteers. The student staff includes several section editors that report to the editor in chief, a photographer, a graphic designer, and an administrative professional that tracks deadlines and expenses to make sure the project stays on track.

Continuity between the years is an important aspect of the high school yearbook project. The outgoing seniors should make the time to discuss with the incoming staff members the various issues they experienced so the new staff members can avoid making the same mistakes. This improves the overall quality of the yearbook. Determining how much weight to give each section of the yearbook is a decision that is made by the yearbook staff on a year to year basis. Sports typically have a large portion of the yearbook; however, the yearbook staff generally has a lot of freedom regarding how many pages to give to sports or any other section. Some schools tend to emphasis academic and extracurricular groups, while others put more of an emphasis on candid pictures of students.

The yearbook is financed from several sources. The school provides some financing from their budget. The yearbook itself sells considerable ad space to local businesses to help finance the yearbook itself. The yearbook is then sold, at a reduced price, to the students in the school. This reduced price is made possible by the ads and the budgetary funding the yearbook receives.

The creation of a high school yearbook can be a lengthy process and one fraught with difficulties for the staff members and student volunteers involved. However, successfully completing a yearbook allows the yearbook staff not only the satisfaction of knowing they did a good job and are responsible for a valuable keepsake, but adds value to their college applications and future resumes. Yearbook work can be difficult, but the end result is worth the effort.