By Jon Scott

Many students do not realize what the true meaning of yearbook is until they take the class.  There’s more to a yearbook than just taking pictures.  Each year a student takes yearbook, their role or duty grows bigger and more is expected.
This school year, the order of doing things is a little bit different than what it has been in past years.  This year, the yearbook group is organized into different sections, and each group is responsible for completing the assigned spread.  Usually there is a discussion between the editors and the yearbook staff to figure out a theme.  This year, however, the editors had the theme picked out before the start of school.  This year’s theme is called “One Day at a Time.”
By taking this yearbook class, you get the opportunity to actually see what is getting put into the yearbook instead of waiting.  Senior Lucia Olvera says, “It’s a fun way to get involved and know what you put in your yearbook.”  After all what really happens in yearbook, stays in yearbook.  Sophomores, juniors, and seniors are encouraged to take yearbook.  According to an updated 2008 national study from the Newspaper Association of America, “Students who work on a high school newspaper or yearbook staff do better in high school and college than students with no journalism experience.”
Every yearbook staff member’s best friend is eDesign.  EDesign is the online Herff Jones version of InDesign.  Senior Karson Doll explains, “eDesign is a branch of Herff Jones website for yearbook design.  It is a way for us to virtually have a layout to design the yearbook.”  Sophomore Kylie Price states that “eDesign is a website that the yearbook staff uses for designing a spread.” Without the use of eDesign, the yearbook probably would not be possible.  Yearbook members feel the same way about eDesign as Senior Alyssa Schafer explains “eDesign is the program that we use to create pages in the yearbook.  It allows us to easily design our page and when we are done with the pages, we turn them in electronically.”  Everything that goes into the yearbook, gets  put onto eDesign.  At the end of the school year, when all pages are completed, it gets sent to the yearbook plant where the pages are printed and inserted into a hardcover.
There are a few things that yearbook staff members know of, that non yearbook members do not.  Olvera explains that “We have fun (duh!) and learn at the same time.”  Senior Krysten Moore states, “I think the number one thing students don’t know about the yearbook is that it’s not all alone work.  We work together.”  Working together in yearbook is a huge success.  Senior Gail Haug states, “The class is not any easy A and it takes hard work to get an A.” Yearbook is not a play around class, it is hard work year round, even during summer vacation.  Junior Sam Wheat states, “It’s a lot harder than what I thought it was going to be.”  Having fun and learning at the same time is a common thing heard among the yearbook staff members.  Junior Lindsey Downs states, “It’s a lot of fun and we eat a lot.”  To reward students for their hard work, yearbook advisor Mrs. Schmeltz came up with the idea last year that on a yearbook staff member’s birthday, the whole yearbook class would get that person’s favorite Little Debbie snack.
For someone who has never taken the yearbook class, there are some reasons why everyone should join the class.  Junior Kylie Ludwig states, “It’s fun and you get to show your creative side.”  Doll agrees, “If you like writing, photography, or designing things, then you should definitely join because that’s what the yearbook is all about.  It isn’t just hard work all the time, we also have lots of fun.”  Schafer sums it up well by explaining “If you like to work with computers, take pictures, or you like to write, this is THE class for you!  You have some freedom which is refreshing because it allows you to be creative and show some of your personality in your work.”