Written By: Samantha Reed, Staff Writer
STORY: Spotlight on the Yearbook Staff.
Everyone feels that excitement of waiting in line to finally receive a yearbook, but few understand the hard work and stress that goes into the creation of that yearbook. In this article, I will inform you about the staff positions, how the yearbook pages are created, taking pictures, deadlines, interviewing, writing captions and copy, and the annual October Dave & Buster’s trip that the yearbook staff takes. Let’s start flipping those pages!
In the Koala Yearbook, the team consists of an Advisor, Editor in Chief, Photo Editor, Portrait Editor, and staff members. The Advisor of the schools Koala Yearbook staff is Ms. Walton who is also Poly’s choir teacher. The Editor in Chief is Samantha Reed (10). Her job as Editor in Chief is to complete the tasks that all staff members must complete, but in addition oversee student’s spreads, assist them with any questions or tasks they need help completing, and create templates for students so they can create their spread on coherence with the other ones. The Photo Editor is Seth Rich Neal (11) who also completes the task of the staff members, but is mainly in charge of checking out cameras, and downloading photos onto google drive for the staff members to use to design their spreads. The Portraits Editor is Rylee Renteria (10) who also completes the task of the staff members, but is specifically responsible for the student and staff portraits section in the yearbook by making sure the names are spelled correctly and featuring the Associated Student Body class officers. Last, but not least is the student staff members who partake in creating the yearbook by designing spreads, taking photos, writing, and much more. According to Charlotte Rogan, as staff member, “some tasks [she has] completed are taking photographs of games and events, [she has] done interviews, and [she has] contacted coaches and staff.”
After taking photos for an event, to design a yearbook spread, also known as a page. “[They] use a website called Yearbook 360… to make [their] yearbook look as best as possible,” Seth Rich Neal explains. After uploading and placing all the photos they would like to include on the spread, from there, they can start to conduct interviews. When interviewing a student, teacher, or staff member for the yearbook, they use their class time to gather interviews. In these interviews they ask various questions that specifically relate to what is occuring in the photo and their feelings at that moment the photo was taken. However, the questions do change according to whether it is a feature of a captain or coach. After gathering all their quotes, they can finish their captions, write the copy and have it proofread and submitted for printing. It is very important that the spread is submitted before or on the deadline as they could prolong the yearbook process.
Every year in October, some of the Koala Yearbook staff attend a workshop produced by Walsworth, the company that publishes our school’s yearbook. The workshop’s purpose is to help the students gain insight and tips on how to improve the current school’s yearbook. This includes team bonding, personality test, team games, spread evaluation, and design guidelines. On top of the workshop, all the students are each given a game card for Dave & Busters to play games on their lunch break. Since the event takes place near Halloween, there is a costume contest where you can earn more game cards and even upgrades for the yearbook cover.
The Koala Yearbook staff works tirelessly day in and out to make this book as perfect as it can be. When you pick up your yearbook by the pool deck, take a moment to look through the book with care, read the captions, and read the copy before you pass it around. Though it may take you 10 minutes to look through the book, it took 8 months to make. So let’s all thank the Koala Yearbook team for their hard work and dedication.