High School Yearbook – is it a Class or a Club?

A high school yearbook is an unusual but precious thing. A book with an initial cash value, it is unlikely to be sold after the initial purchase. It grows in value to its owner over the years, but it only seems to be pulled from the bookshelf on significant anniversaries.

The yearbook is created by students themselves who often have no writing, editing, photography or publishing skills, at least at the outset, and it carries not only the traditions of a school, but is the only record of a particular school year. There is only one printing each year, and the book quite often looks strikingly similar to the previous year’s edition. And every high school (and college) has one.

So where does this annual task fall? Is it a class, taught during the school day, receiving a grade and school credit, led by a teacher in a classroom? Or is it more suited as an activity where students voluntarily join together after-school to complete the massive amount of work required, advised by a teacher or staff member with the time to give and the experience (or not) to support their efforts?

Both of these approaches have benefits and challenges, but the biggest issue regardless of which is used is the absolute requirement that a comprehensive and accurate yearbook is completed each year. Additionally, most schools require the yearbook class/ club to raise all of the funds needed to produce their annual publication, a budget that can range upward to more than $100,000. The reality of being the yearbook teacher/advisor is that you must produce a book and often pay for it.

Having an after-school yearbook club is easier to manage for the school as it does not require an assigned classroom nor inclusion in the daily schedule. And as the weekly effort required to produce the annual book fluctuates, the club can adjust its schedule to match. But the benefits of having a yearbook course, taught by a teacher from any discipline who has the yearbook experience to do so, fully outweigh the challenges. By having a regularly scheduled class of students committed to producing the best quality yearbook possible, more of the work becomes student-owned as opposed to teacher-prepped. With a solid curriculum, students learn much more than just how to do their part of the year and the times when there is little to no yearbook work to still be educational.

The yearbook class can be offered as a full year or semester course, but works best as a full-year class. The curriculum can include all facets of producing a yearbook, from the school’s history and traditions, the production process, budgeting and fundraising, advertising and sales, photography, writing and editing, design layout, graphics, as well as careers in publication and journalism.

The class becomes the decision-makers on all aspects of the book: size, layout, table of contents, cover, colors, fonts, coverage and overall concept. With a large enough class, students can take on the various roles required: editors, business managers, layout and production, editing and writing, photography, graphic design, and continuity. Most class members will wear several different hats during the course of the year, often teaching others to fulfill their initial role as they transition to the next one.

Because of the yearbook staff’s skills, the class can become a resource for the school, designing posters and signage for school events, capturing images for social media and the school website, producing items for fundraising purposes such as a school calendar with lots of great school photos, or simply sharing the photos collected with others through a shared website. With access to all of those photos, the yearbook staff might consider using one of the online publication sites (like Shutterfly) to produce individual gifts such as mugs, calendars and water bottles for faculty, staff, administration or alumni as a thank you for their support.

Making your yearbook’s production and responsibility a class allows more students to participate in this important annual rite and process. It brings more creativity and ideas to the planning and preparation, includes individuals who assist with the large amount of work required, generates interest in how the book is being done, and provides the manpower to confirm the accuracy of every entry, name and caption. Yearbook class is the best choice for ensuring that the book will have personal value for every member of the current year’s graduating class.

Steffen Parker is a retired music educator, event organizer, maple sugar maker, and Information Technology specialist from Vermont who serves as the Performing Arts/Technology representative on the NFHS High School Today Publications Committee.