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W A R R E N H I L L S H I G H S C H O O L // W A S H I N G T O N , N J
Welcome to the updated look of Herff Jones.
Folio is now the name of Yearbook Discoveries, the magazine you’ve come to love and rely on for what’s trending and who’s leading the charge.
A re you ready for the new world?
O N T H E C O V E R : A N D Y R O D R I G U E Z // M I A M I S E N I O R H S // M I A M I , F L
Experience allows quiet worker bees to coach newer members, helping them learn process nuances and find their places on staff. Writers, designers and photographers, whose work may not have been public otherwise, find and share their voices with the community. Without fail, leaders emerge.
HE AR I T FROM ANN
The joy of advising I
n many ways, yearbook is the same everywhere. It’s an exercise in planning, creativity and communication. Students learn a new vocabulary, master new skills and make decisions a f f e c t i n g t h e i r s c h o o l ’s o n l y permanent record of the year. Whether it’s an informal staff, meeting after school to make deadlines, or a program boasting multiple yearbook courses yielding academic credit, the year’s history is in the hands of those who live it. These staffers have coursework for other classes, potential commitments to sports, campus organizations and jobs, as well as family obligations. For the better part of the year, they brainstorm coverage, take photos, conduct interviews, design, edit, ref i ne a nd g row. T hey become better thinkers, communicators and leaders. They learn sales skills, use sophisticated software and develop flexibility as they practice project and time management working with real-world deadlines, budgets and public expectations. TO WATCH THIS IS AMAZING. Shyness fades. Former wallflowers f ind themselves com for tably interviewing people they don’t know and discussing sensitive issues with people in positions of authority.
You can’t help but smile when you hear them critique each other, work through challenges and marvel how real their work feels once it makes it on the page. That, too, happens every year at every school. BUT HOLD ON TIGHT BECAUSE THE TRUE M AGIC OF YEARBOOK IS YET TO COME. There’s nothing like seeing pride on the faces of staffers when they first hold their new books. There are always squeals of delight — usually followed by applause. They might study their books and remember aloud what they went through to get the photos and interviews as the year flashes before their eyes.
THERE’S NO DOUBT ABOUT IT, I’M A NERD AND I LOVE YEARBOOKS. Always have. ALWAYS WILL. I love the historical perspective presented and the forever aspect only they have. Every yearbook is important, but some are simply unforgettable. They make me smile or say “wow.” Typically, they have at least five things in common.
The same students who struggled to balance their lives and capture history will be a step ahead of their peers in reliving the year. They may a l ready u nder st a nd what their classmates won’t discover for decades: the yearbook really does make the memories and stories of the year’s events and people accessible forever. Watching your staff see how much their friends, teachers and community members appreciate their work is the next joy. There’s never been a perfect yearbook — just like no team ever scored on every shot attempted. Remind the staff of the goals they met and how they did an amazing job of including people, of finding and telling important stories. They created a time capsule. Remember, t hey accompl i shed all that work in less than a year. THAT’S THE BEAUTY OF BEING AN ADVISER.
ANN AKERS, MJE Our resident knower of all and the only person who claims to be equal in all four colors on the personality wheel.
LINDA PUNTNEY, MJE Special consultant, expert storyteller and lover of purple. Especially the Royal variety.
SOLID WRITING
Redondo’s environmental portrait shows the student’s passion for photography and is enhanced by the lighting, selective focus and frame created by the leaves.
Determining the best way to tell a story is as important as getting a great interview. Photographs may visually move you, but a well-told story is the stuff of which goose bumps are made.
COMPELLING PHOTOS The most memorable books include frame-filled photos with unusual angles, good contrast and tonal range. FACES — Yearbooks must fill the pages with people. Remember the importance of showing the campus as it looks each year, so as it changes through time, you’ve recorded history. ACTION — Capturing people in the act tells the story far better than posed pictures. MOMENTS — Photographs fool time by freezing a nanosecond of life into an image forever.
PILOT // REDONDO UNION HS // REDONDO BE ACH, C A
The CorningPainted Post staff found year-specific stories to make its coverage fresh.
CREATIVE COVERAGE The most important aspect of a memorable book is content. All students should find themselves in the book. Accuracy is key, with correctly spelled names, honest quotes and scores. Balance is a basic requirement. Making coverage fresh, fun and specific to the year helps the readers fall in love. Theme-driven and diverse coverage makes books most memorable. THEME DRIVEN — A “word” theme leading naturally to coverage possibilities is a strong book unifier. DIVERSE — Keep readers engaged and loving every page with a variety of story types and topics.
TESSER AE // CORNING-PAINTED POST HS // CORNING, NY
The Antelope staff’s theme “Only in Antelope” develops coverage ideas by using variations of “in” to provide relevant coverage.
VISUAL PACKAGING Put things together that belong, and blend them seamlessly.
READER SERVICES The best-remembered books make it simple to find and understand the story. Easy-to-read text, folios, verbal/visual connections and hierarchy should be musts for every spread. The contents and index should receive special attention.
TITANIUM // ANTELOPE HS // ANTELOPE, C A
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expert talk
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TA K E NOTE CRAFTED BY YOU
DARLINGTON SCHOOL Rome, Georgia Adviser: Adrienne Forgette, MJE Editors: Katherine Gu and Claire Anderson
CURATED BY HERFF
YEARBOOK HQ IS FILLED with the best student work on the planet. Steve Kent and the creative collective selected these moments from books across our network to celebrate what’s trending. Want to see your work featured here? DM us @HJYearbook.
CLAIRE ANDERSON “It’s impactful to have someone write it out and sign their name. We are a private school that is also a boarding school and have opinions from all over the country and all over the world. Some were funny, some were more serious and made you think. We wanted to get the student voices because we are telling the story of them. When it’s red and blue, sometimes it is one student. It was great we didn’t just get two polarizing things, we got a wide range of opinions.” THE FIRST YEAR this staff ever entered competitions, it won best book in Georgia, Silver Crown, Pacemaker and third place in NSPA’s Best of Show. That was also its first book with Herff Jones. Not to rest on its laurels, the Jabberwokk staff coupled student research with its own intent to make the book more community-focused. As a private school with half of its students from other countries, Darlington is filled with varied voices. Here, letting students’ handwriting supply the verbal and the visual coverage, the editors show a clever way to let those thoughts resonate. The use of these 29 messages is a fresh alternative to the typical talking head modules. //sk
BROOK V IL L E HIGH S CHOOL Lynchburg, Virginia Adviser: Brett Hastie Editor: Maddie Martin
MADDIE MARTIN “It impacted us when a student died in a car accident but wasn’t covered in any of the books. We made an effort to look at who wasn’t covered because their voices needed to be heard. We want every student’s parent to have peace if tragedy happens. A staffer took charge and found people who had never been covered. She met with them and based on the power of the story, it was either a piece of copy or a talking head. That’s how we approached it. Finding the kids who had never been featured in the book at all — never covered on any page — because we didn’t want that feeling to happen again.”
“If she came back with an incredible story, we used it.”
FOR MY MONEY, The Buzzer is one of the best books produced in 2017. Of course, I am admittedly biased. Handpainted backgrounds, the most sophisticated grid structure and coverage galore make the spreads of this book look like no other. This, of course, only happens when your leadership team — here, a remarkable editorial board of long-time staffers — invests itself into not only creating a superior, accurate and fresh historical reference of the year, but also in speaking with heart and truth. Filled with more fireworks than an Independence Day celebration, this book reflects attention to detail, next-level storytelling and such a high level of magazinequality execution, it’s a standout. And, a knockout. //sk
T A K E 04 NOTE 05
BROOK V IL L E MIDDL E S CHOOL Lynchburg, Virginia Adviser: Sarena Wellman Editor: Zoie Younce
ZOIE YOUNCE “I used the photo editing tools in eDesign and basically just did a reverse cut-out. No matter what else we tried, the drummer, Noah, blended in to the background. In color, in black and white, same result. I experimented with the cutout and colorizing it and decided to pull a color from our cover to make it all tie together.” NOT TO BE OUTDONE by its elder program across the parking lot, The Stinger shows where those high school staffers on the previous page get their starts. The first question people ask when they see this book is always, “THIS is a middle school book?” It’s hard to believe, but this staff was part of the Square One™ pilot, and it abides by our researchdriven model for producing its book. At the beginning of the year, staffers are assigned face-to-face conversations with students who didn’t have enough appearances in the previous book based on the index and the coverage report in eDesign. These get-to-know-you conversations uncover unbelievable story topics. Here, the staff tackled the topic of loss and coping. “When Addie Harf asked me if she could interview Madisen about the loss of her brother, sure I was skeptical,” adviser Sarena Wellman said. “I was worried about it being done well. But, we checked with the parents and they agreed. I wanted to see how the story took shape, and am so proud of it. Addie handled herself with grace and maturity.” In addition to maturity beyond their years, the staffers’ graphic risktaking is equally inspiring. //sk
“I wanted to see how the story took shape.”
S T R AW BE RR Y CRE S T HIGH S CHOOL Dover, Florida Adviser: Morgan Miltner Editor: Selena Ortega
ANNA BENVENUTI “The initial idea came from us wanting to incorporate something special to convey our theme, ‘Is it clear?’ We thought a clear cover or partial cover was too obvious. Eventually, we thought back to overheads that used to be used in classrooms. Then, we set out to find if it was even possible to get that in a yearbook. We were so excited to open the book when it first arrived. Both the acetate page and the cover were completely custom combinations of different materials that couldn’t be replicated in the proof from the plant. This was the first year where the final look of the cover was a surprise. We worried the lines on the acetate wouldn’t line up correctly with the title page but they lined up perfectly.” THIS BOOK MAKES YOU SAY “WOW” as soon as you see it. Its metallic copper cover and recycled endsheet stock are certainly attention-getting. But, it’s the clear acetate fly sheet before the title page that leaves you speechless. The close-up image on the left shows the acetate sheet being lifted. This brilliant staff printed half an illustration on the fly sheet and half on the title page. When you lift the fly sheet, the two guys shown in the illustration take on a different type of interaction. The rest of the book, again from a Square One™ pilot school, is clean, sophisticated and filled with brief copy points. This staff, based on community research, produced a blended coverage model with almost all copy in an alternative or first-person presentation. Look at the inside back cover of this edition of Folio to see how this staff and cohorts from neighboring Newsome High saved another school’s yearbook as we were going to press. //sk
T A K E 06 NOTE 07
A R A PA HOE HIGH S CHOOL Centennial, Colorado Adviser: Greg Anderson Editors: Sarah Cherin and Allison Swom
CAROLINE RILEY “Arapahoe has done elegant and quiet books. We decided we wanted to create one as loud as our students. The color scheme was based on the Arapaho tribe colors of red, blue, yellow, and black. (Note, the tribe’s spelling of Arapaho is different than the school’s) Those are traditionally used in the culture and so ingrained in the school. Our editors were both non-traditional journalists and prided themselves on that. Originally, they wanted something loud and sassy. Then we started working with language, started picking up conjunctions and landed on a theme that is not grammatically correct. We wanted casual language reflective of how students talked.” I LOVE IT WHEN THE CONCEPT IS SO PERFECT to a staff and to a school. Arapahoe is one of those programs from which I just can’t wait to see the book every year. This staff took a crowd shot at a football game and made it into something more. The treatments make it seem to fade into the background as the modern type treatment sits atop it. Deleting the “negative” space in the letters gives me something to consider when I read the type. It’s not just type. It’s brilliant, subtle art. You will never convince me crowd shots aren’t powerful. There’s no other way to get as many faces involved. No matter where or when, students in this photo will remember the moment it was taken. And that’s the beauty of yearbook. //sk
HOW IT’S 1
DONE
Open the image. Go to Adjustments > Black & White. File > Save As a new name to preserve the original image.
2
Place your black-andwhite image. Draw a rectangle and fill with your desired color on top of the photo.
3
In InDesign, select the rectangle, go to Object > Effects > Transparency > Mode > Multiply. In eDesign, select the box and change transparency.
TO CREATE THE TYPE EFFECT, in InDesign or eDesign, select the text box and convert to outlines or shapes and delete the points you wish to remove.
L A K E CE N T R A L HIGH S CHOOL St. John, Indiana Advisers: Sarah Verpooten, MJE and Carrie Wadycki, MJE Editor: Nicole Milaszewski
NICOLE MILASZEWSKI AND CAMRYN WALLACE “We didn’t want to do fluffy stories. We wanted the raw emotion and what people are truly about, what people actually want to feel. The ‘pressure’ section is a big deal, these everyday struggles we don’t often think of sharing, You are not alone, and being able to emphasize that was important. We didn’t want to be the ones dictating the story. That’s their own story. We didn’t want forced leads and transitions. If you start asking the right questions, it will flow in a cohesive story. That’s what Humans of New York does. We wanted to get that vibe of someone being able to pour their heart out in a small amount of space and somehow it’s powerful.” WITH SOLID LEADERSHIP, these staffers decided to tell it like it really is. When your heart is in the right place, and you have the ability to have such a singular, cut-through message, you don’t need anything else. When “story” becomes “the story,” let it. The design here is stunning. To newcomers to our world, “design” may mean decoration in the forms of swirling type, dramatic photo treatments, colors, textures and the like. In this Hoosier state contribution, we see design in its purest form: Relaying content. Leading the eye. Getting out of the way of the story. The generous and deliberate space use pulls me by the collar into the reporting. That’s great design. The students featured, as well as their classmates, benefitted from well-trained staff members who know how to tell the story of the year, as well as the story of the times. //sk
T A K E 08 NOTE 09
W E S T HENDERS ON HIGH S CHOOL Hendersonville, North Carolina Adviser: Brenda Gorsuch, MJE Editors: Dallis Guilliams, Daniel Ippolito, Elizabeth O’Donnell, Skylar Smith and Samantha Wilkie
ELIZABETH O’DONNELL “I feel like the first month of the year, our ladder is not concrete. When we get these stories or ideas, then it becomes concrete. We tried to cover everything. It’s definitely challenging to get the information. You have to dig. We created these ideas and thought they would be great, but it took a lot of brainstorming on what to actually put on those pages. We are really dependent on the student body. When we were working on the social media page, we would just go around and ask people questions. When we found those interesting stories, like the craze of finstas, it clicked. Sometimes the idea is not going to come from just looking at stuff. You have to ask questions.”
THIS IS LEGENDARY ADVISER Brenda Gorsuch’s last book, and what a way to mark her legacy. Long known as one of the exemplary examples of copywriting in yearbook, Westwind staffers took reporting to new levels with so many individual accounts to supplement alternative copy forms and extended captions (which I contend stand as mini-stories in the hands of these staffers). Note the appropriately tiny four talking head shots in the corners formatted as part of the folio packaging. Coverage abounds, as always. Nestled in the mountains of North Carolina, students at this school — and generations before them — have never known anything other than this level of excellence. Thank you, West Henderson — and Brenda — for giving us textbook examples of all things yearbook. //sk
2018
BRENDA GORSUCH
JEA LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
&
LINDA S. PUNTNEY TEACHER INSPIRATION
BRIGH T ON HIGH S CHOOL Brighton, Colorado Adviser: Justin Daigle, CJE Editors: Isaac Burgarin and Will Satler
WILL SATLER “For a chronological book, it’s so difficult because my staff had to be on its best for every event. If something happened and we missed it, there wasn’t anything we could do. For a staff wanting to get into chronological, it has to be related to its theme. The staff has to be on every single week. There might be a plan to cover an event, but you have to get deeper than the traditional coverage. To be successful, you have to dig deeper and stay on track. I think it’s so cool when you can put together a chronological spread with whatever you have. It’s a challenge, but that is the cool part of it.”
WHAT’S A NEVER-FAIL STRUCTURE for a yearbook? Brace yourselves. Chronological. In my research across our international network through the years, staff members and advisers swear by this take-it-as-ithappens approach. But student research initially did not support it. Students were unaccustomed to change, thinking yearbooks should be the same from year to year. Now, however, that feedback is changing. Students at schools where staffs have made radically different books each year are coming around. It’s a culture shift: We have to show our communities yearbooks should change with the times. Take this beautiful book from Brighton. As Will perfectly points out, the structure of your ladder should come after you’ve settled on the central concept of your book. That concept should drive every decision, especially where and in what order you include coverage. From a visual perspective, look at the high-level way the words have been broken into separate paragraphs. This “block style” copy formatting injects white space into the in-depth personal reporting and attracts readers’ eyes.//sk
T A K E 10 NOTE 11
Tom Gayda, MJE: 2018 National High School Journalism
Staub and Zhu were both named Distinguished Adviser in the JEA Yearbook Adviser of the Year competition
Teacher of the Year
T
om Gayda , the yea rbook adv iser and journalism teacher at North Central High School in Indianapolis, said his journalism roots date back to the eighth grade when he joined his junior high yearbook staff and never looked back. For Gayda, the 2018 National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year, it has always been about getting out there and finding the story. “I remember in high school,” he said, “another staff member and I went to the mall on the Friday after Thanksgiving just to write about Black Friday. This was in the ’90s, and back then you really didn’t shop online, so it was even worse. And I really enjoyed doing that man-onthe-street journalism.”
STORY POWER Tom Gayda teaches about building content for web and social media with his students at CSPA’s Spring Convention on Thursday, March 15.
Gayda went to Ball State and majored in journalism education where he learned to put the students first. “I really let kids run the show,” he said. “I try to just help them and play devil’s advocate a lot. They ultimately make all of the important decisions.” In his beginning journalism classes, he said, he assigns group projects and puts a single student in charge of the group to simulate the relationships in a publication room. And it works. “I have as many kids who go on to be lawyers and doctors as journalists. But it’s one of my favorite things, when I get an email saying what they did in this class is helping them more than any other class, even those kids who went on to be doctors and lawyers.”
ALLIE STAUB , CJE “I think back to my 24-year-old self, when I stepped into the position of yearbook adviser. Without any prior yearbook or journalism knowledge, I spent my entire summer researching every website and resource I could find, stalking yearbook school websites and absorbing as much as I possibly could. My staff saw the articles about yearbook awards and contests and asked if we could enter. Sure! Why not? I told them. And just like that, we were hooked on the process, the challenge, the creativity and the growth. I had absolutely no idea what I was getting into. I could never have imagined the incredible world of people, experiences and opportunities yearbook has brought me. Now, eight years later, I can’t imagine my life without yearbook. This award is the icing on the cake... the affirmation from the people who wrote those articles and schools featured on those sites, I’m not just having fun, but especially as a middle school adviser, I’m doing something right.” YEARBOOK ADVISER WESTFIELD MS WESTFIELD, IN
LAURA ZHU , CJE “Winning this award shows I never gave up. That I always knew I could do more, accomplish more and be more for the yearbook journalism community. Plus, it’s really amazing I was able to win in the same year as my yearbook best friend. I’m honored to be recognized with an amazing adviser who also happens to be from a middle school. When students come back to visit me, nothing brings me greater joy than when they share an anecdote about how something they learned in middle school yearbook prepared them to meet something in the real world head on. And I agree. Yearbook is where academic concepts turn into practical life skills. Creativity is at the heart of what we do daily. In a country where standardized testing is the status quo, having a project-based class promoting 21st-century skills and pushing students to apply their academic knowledge is invaluable. Yearbook prepares students for life.” YEAR B O O K ADVI S ER TO BY J O HN S O N MS EL K GR OVE, CA
DELIVERING ADOBE INDESIGN AND PHOTOSHOP ONLINE ®
®
®
GO BEYOND CREATIVE CLOUD® LICENSING, SOFTWARE INSTALLS, UPDATES AND ADMINISTRATIVE RIGHTS ALL WITH UNLIMITED CLOUD STORAGE. WORK WHEN AND WHERE INSPIRATION STRIKES WHILE ENJOYING THE BELLS AND WHISTLES OF ALL OUR EXTENSIONS: ◘◘Quick Panel: Manage and edit portraits ◘◘Panel Builder: Flow portrait pages ◘◘Index Builder: Never tag names again ◘◘Template Builder: Create customized page files ◘◘Name Checker: Avoid misspelled names ◘◘ImageIn: Place images while simultaneously checking resolution and maintaining proportion ◘◘ePage: Submit pages and proofs to the plant.
SOMETHING THIS COMPREHENSIVE COULD ONLY COME FROM HERFF JONES.
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we love advisers
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E
ast High School is proud, diverse and most of all, misunderstood. East has a terrible reputation. When East makes the news, it’s for something related to violence or low performance on state tests. This is why scholastic journalism programs at schools like mine are so very important. Scholastic journalism programs create opportunities for students inside and outside of the classroom. The skills developed are necessary for students, regardless of their environments or circumstances. There were a few things I did during my first few years of advising which were imperative to the success of our publications. create authentic relationships with students. Work hard to establish one-on-one time with staffers every week, whether that is by sitting down with them to edit copy, sending them a personalized email or sitting with them at a sporting event. Kids want to be around you if you show you want to be around them in return. When students do a good job, show some love by letting their parents or guardians know. It’s crazy how a simple email can boost a student’s confidence and have kids knocking down counselors’ doors to join publications. Many of my students are first-generation college students, so the relationships I build with students may start in my classroom but can grow into mentorships affecting the rest of their lives. find a role on staff for every type of student, no matter what test scores indicate. Test scores don’t have to be reflective of participation or success in publications programs. Instead of assuming students can’t excel in electives requiring them to read and write, challenge them by giving them responsibilities, establishing rigorous deadlines and providing personalized feedback to push them as thinkers, writers and people. There is a place for anybody on staff as long as they are excited about the work being done. Kids want to feel empowered, and publications could be that game changer for them, regardless of what they’re good at.
How to create your own positive work environment
be your own cheerleader. The work our students are doing is important for not only the success of the publication, but the development of students as a whole. The process has to be recognized and celebrated. give your students multiple chances to get their work recognized. The single best day of my teaching career was watching my yearbook editors accept their third-place certificate in the 2016 Iowa High School Press Association Yearbook of the Year award.
make your publications lab an oasis for your students. St udent s need to feel l i ke t he publications lab is a place they can call their own. A place they ca n come to eat lunch, a place where they ca n ha ng out a f ter school, a place where they want to be creative. Each summer, I ask students to come in to help decorate and arrange the room. Students want to be present in a space they’ve helped create and establish. put students in charge and give them a voice.
When students are able to be creative and they get recognized for it, they realize it’s something they can and should stick with. Anywhere there is a contest or critique available, enter student work.
Give students freedom to express themselves, whether that is by writing a hard news story about something affecting the community or a personal narrative about a life experience that shaped them.
Iowa recently revived its Journalist of t he Yea r contest lead i ng to recog n it ion i n t he Jou r na l ism E d u c at ion A s s o c i at ion (J E A ) Journalist of the Year contest. I encourage students to apply, even when I know the competition is stiff. The process of completing their portfolios is transformative.
In the last six years, my school has tripled the number of st udents i nvolved i n publicat ions a nd taken the yearbook from a nonparticipator in Iowa High School Press A ssociation contests to a third-place finisher, right behind t wo s ubu rba n s cho ol s i n h ig h socioeconomic areas. We had eight students attend summer journalism workshops. We bring 50 kids to state conventions. We have three students who have applied to Journalist of the Year competitions and one who was a runner-up. No matter what the circumstances of your school or students, they can find success in scholastic journalism programs.
NATALIE NIEMEYER, MJE DES MOINES EAST HIGH SCHOOL DES MOINES, IA
EDITORS’ TIPS FOR MOTIVATING STAFFERS
OLIVIA HONAKER “I think honesty is crucial to motivating everyone. They should be on staff because they understand and are passionate about producing something beautiful and worthwhile, and I think it’s also important to be inclusive and make the entire staff feel important.”
CHELSEA NICHOLSON “We have started hanging all of our finished spreads on the walls in our room to show everyone how far we’ve made it. Starbursts also work really well.” O L AT HE N O R T H W E S T H S // O L AT HE , K S
HIDDEN VALLEY HS // ROANOKE, VA
JULIA BARRIOS “Donuts help (thanks to my adviser), but I think what really works is having a theme that everyone feels connected to and letting people have creative freedom on spreads. I also try to coordinate interests when I can. This helps keep the creative flow going for sure. We also have a really great environment and trust each other.” CHICO SENIOR HS // CHICO, CA
JENNIFER COLE “This year, we expanded our staff to 7-12 graders instead of 9-12, and at first it was scary. But now we assign one middle-schooler, one high-schooler and one editor to each page, and we had an almost new group of kids aside from the three who returned, we all began working together in ways I never could’ve imagined.” R O C K Y B AY O U C HRIS T I A N S C H O O L // NIC E V IL L E , F L
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staff success
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JUNE
To be thankful @P IC A P L A NE T
I
don’t know about you, but I have a stack of thank you notes to write. And, as a properly raised Southerner, it’s a thing. A s you’ve finalized your pages, perhaps had a staff dust-up or three, interviewed that one kid with that one amazing story you just can’t believe you never knew or shed a tear over some yearbook detail so simu lta neously m inuscu le a nd monumental you question your presence of mind, you, too, have reason to be thankful. You’ve had both the rare privilege and responsibility of recording a year in the life. Of your classmates and your school … but also of your own coming of age. So, ye keeper of history and teller of story, take heart. PAT YOURSELF ON THE BACK. Journalism these days gets a black eye because some folks believe it’s “opinionism.” Dr. Marian Huttenstein taught me in media law class (shortly after hanging up with the notorious RBG, but that’s for another time) “Journalism is the very absence of opinion, of slant and of interpretation. Journalism is the ver y heart of humanity, for it is truth.” If you’ve put a photo on a page, interviewed one student, formatted one pica (or half or quarter pica) of a book, you’re a journalist.
YEARBOOK VACATION Tempe, AZ • June 4 YEARBOOK MATTERS Mauldin, SC • June 18-19 EASTERN MICHIGAN CAMP Troy, MI • June 18-20 YEARBOOK SOUTH Birmingham, AL • June 19 Montgomery, AL • June 20 BOOKS AT THE BEACH Orange Beach, AL • June 19-20
ANYONE CAN BE. In these pages, you often see our most competitive staffs’ work featured. We love our standard-bearers! But as someone who didn’t earn a national award until college, I am just as proud of my high school books as I am those which came later... even though there are photos in the shapes of stars. Because my staff and I wrote history with honesty and love for our school. We spoke truth as we knew it. YOU DID, TOO. So, join me right now and catch up on that thing we all too often let slip: Share your gratitude. Thanks to Judy Ellis White for seeing ability, Ella Snead for believing a newbie could lead her staff, Kathy Clancy McCarty for Corolla, a creative team in Indy for challenging the norm a nd creating beaut y inf used w ith hea r t a nd tr uth, Herff Jones for leaning in 28 degrees and to you ... for your love of yearbook. See. It ’s not that hard. Put this magazine down and go say thanks. It’ll be here when you get back.
YEARBOOK SUMMERFEST 2018 Lake Forest, IL • June 19-21 PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP Princeton, NJ • June 25 YEARBOOK UNIVERSITY Logan, UT • June 26-28 YBK WORKSHOP GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY Allendale, MI • June 27-29
JULY ROCKY MOUNTAIN JOURNALISM Boulder, CO • July 7-10 GEORGIA YEARBOOK EXPO Stone Mountain, GA • July 11-13 YBKNVA SUMMER CAMP Williamsburg, VA • July 10-14, 2018 ADVANCED DESIGN WORKSHOP Kilgore, TX • July 12-13 YEARBOOKPALOOZA Orlando, FL • July 16-19 CALIFORNIA YEARBOOK ACADEMY Hayward, CA • July 16-19 YBK-STL SUMMER WORKSHOP St. Louis, MO • July 17-19 YEARBOOKSNCA Stockton, CA • July 17-20 BAYOU YEARBOOK CAMP Baton Rouge LA • July 23-25 YBK CAMP Tiffin, OH • July 25-26 YEARBOOK SUMMER WORKSHOP Princeton, NJ • July 26-27
STEVE KENT That guy who brought us Yearbookonomics, Square One and who preaches about Souls on Paper. TM
YEARBOOKNV 2018 Centreville VA • July 27 YEARBOOKS@THEBEACH Long Beach CA • July 28-Aug. 1
TM
TM
YEARBOOKS NORTHWEST Salem, OR • July 31-Aug. 2
AUGUST SOUND YEARBOOKS Tacoma, WA • Aug. 2-4 INLAND NORTHWEST CAMP Cheney, WA • Aug. 2-4 HAWAII YEARBOOK ACADEMY Honolulu, HI • Aug. 18-19
YBKFOLIO.COM SEE FULL LIST OF UPCOMING WORKSHOPS AND CONTACT INFORMATION ONLINE.
TELL IT. S I G N A T U R E
W O R K S H O P S
At a Signature Workshop you can learn to: GET IT For students brand new to the yearbook world. Welcome. Your soulmates are here. WRITE IT From interviewing techniques to coverage plans, this is where writers and copy editors come to play. SNAP IT Bring a camera and a pile of SD cards. Photographers of all skill levels will learn what it takes to capture the year. SELL IT What good is a yearbook if no one buys it? Business editors, come on in and sharpen your pencils. CLICK IT Say it with me. White Space is your friend. Don’t know that guy? That’s OK. This course is for designers in the making. BUILD IT Had a few late nights with InDesign or eDesign already? Time to explore new trends in design and up your game. You’ll leave with completed spreads. LEAD IT Get ready to be the chief. Editors will build ladders, make plans, and be ready to take over the world (of yearbook). TEACH IT We know. If you’re a new adviser, this is your happy place. Learn the ropes from the pros. LOVE IT If you’ve been advising for at least a couple of years, you’ve been here, done this, and you’re looking for more. This course is for experienced advisers who are ready to share solutions to all of life’s problems.
YOU HAVE ONE CHANCE to capture all of the stories of the year, and Herff Jones Signature Workshops help you start the process. We equip storytellers to do their best work. And every member of your staff is a storyteller. Writers use words. Photographers use images. Designers use arrangement and space. Together they all solidify the visual/ verbal connection of all the elements on each spread.
THE SECRET OF A YEARBOOK: ITS HEARTBEAT BEGINS EACH TIME THE COVER IS PRIED OPEN
BY HANDS WHICH SEEM TO AGE, THOUGH ITS STORIES NEVER DO.
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THE PROS AND CONS OF ENTERING YEARBOOK CONTESTS AND REQUESTING CRITIQUES
To contest or to critique? After months of making critical choices — type, colors, designs, theme elements, coverage — do you want to put your work out there for the world to judge? Or worse yet, do you ask someone to pick apart every point and pica of your newlyminted masterpiece? Well, besides the students who are the ultimate judges of your book. The decision to enter contests and request critiques can be a weighty one. Consider both.
DO YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW?
Enter the contest
Why would you hold back?
Gaining recognition for your work from an outside source, can do amazing things for your program, whether it’s your state student publications organization or one of the national heavy-hitters, Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) or National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA).
Some advisers say the process can be timeconsuming and expensive. Others argue focusing on awards can pull a staff away from its goal of creating a yearbook the community supports, and most importantly, buys. The two are not mutually exclusive. You can please your community and a third-party judging panel.
First, and most importantly, it builds pride in the program. It’s a great way to have the community give the staffers a pat on the back for all their work. Principals and parents all love sports trophies. Why not give them an academic trophy to put in the case? Also, winning a contest and collecting your award opens up so many opportunities for staffers. The process of getting a group of students from point A to point B is a bonding experience. Travel, even if it’s in-state, gives them a chance to see new places and things, meet new people and gain independence. You may just win. One thing’s for sure, you won’t win if you don’t enter.
Where to start? Study the winning books, which are often shared on the websites of the organizations. Size up your competition, and see how far you have to go. Look at your last four books, and find habits that may be holding you back. Organizations offer different types of contests. There are whole-book contests, like Crowns and Pacemakers, but both CSPA and NSPA also offer contests for page spreads, stories, photos and other smaller feats of genius. Turn this into a lesson plan: Have students comb through their own work, especially graduating seniors, choosing a few things they might enter. Then assign them to write a self-critique and present it to the class.
The case for critiques Critiques are completed mostly during the summer months by advisers and others who love yearbooks so much they want to see another school’s book improve. These critics, though, offer a single point of view. Value their input as it leads to creating a book which includes more and more students on your pages. An outsider’s view of your book can prove useful in suggesting where adjustments need to be made and new ways to cover your community. Here’s another lesson plan: Take the yearbook and the critique scoring guide in hand, and assign it to student pairs. (Maybe pair newbies with seasoned staffers as their mentors.) Give them a few days to review and set goals. Make sure your seasoned staffers take time to explain the major concepts of the critique to staffers. Have the newbies make a glossary of yearbook terms as they learn them. Turn this into a master document for all staffers. Have each pair of students prepare a quick presentation for the whole staff. Then put that old book away and focus on your next masterpiece.
SEE YBKFOLIO.COM FOR A LIST OF UPCOMING CONTEST AND CRITIQUE ENTRY DEADLINES
W
hen a per fection ist f resh ma n joined the yearbook staff, she thought it would just be a fun activity. Other people liked it. She thought it seemed cool. Little did she realize it would determine her college choice and career path. “When I would look at yearbooks, I’d see little errors or misquotes and I thought I’d be the one to correct those errors,” Caroline Mattox said. “But in reality, there’s no way that’s ever going to happen.” But still, she fell in love.
and the designing – different from art classes. There’s something about the science of yearbook.
Nuntius of Altavista Combined School in A ltav ista , Virg inia established itself as one of the top books both in the state and in the country. And Mattox can say she contributed to its legacy.
“You have to have an eye for detail and you have to know what looks right and what works. You can move a design element over three clicks, and suddenly it looks perfect.”
“My first year, I took a laptop home and I pulled up InDesign tutorials and YouTube v ideos. I copied spreads from old yearbooks. By the end of my first semester on staff, I was already designing my own spreads.”
She went to the Colu mbia Scholastic Press Association’s spring convention her freshman year. She was there to learn and take it all in. And yes, she said, she does still have her notes saved on her phone.
There’s something about the writing – different from English classes –
Three years later, students were taking notes from her as she stood beside her adviser speaking on how yearbook changed her life. “Yes, I learned AP style. And yes, I learned how to use InDesign, which is handy if my older sister wants a baby shower invitation. But I’ve learned more about myself, how I can be a leader and how I can teach others.”
MOR E THAN A PICA
when yearbook changes you for the better
The Altavista staff showing off CSPA’s Gold Crown with staffers in 2014.
I n Ma rch , si x ye a r s a nd si x conventions after her first, Mattox went back to New York City to teach sessions at CSPA on “What I Wish I Knew in High School.” This time, though, she’s in her second term as the editor-in-chief of Virginia Tech’s Bugle. “In high school, I was glad I took initiative and I could help edit, but now I’m actually seeing the impact it’s had on my life,” she said. “To have students come up to me at CSPA when they realize, yes, it is yearbook. And yes, it is a nerdy thing to love, but when you love it, it changes you as a person.” On the steps of Low Memorial Library, Betsy Brittingham, Altavista adviser, and Caroline Mattox celebrate a Silver Crown in 2015.
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conventions
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BEFORE
AFTER
OH YES WE GRID Get more students on your pages. Speed up the process. Create spreads like the pros. Only Herff Jones brings you this revolutionary new approach to spread design. WE PROVIDE THE GRID. YOU PROVIDE THE STORIES. Create spreads in seconds. Choose modules by size. Drag and drop the modules on our exclusive grid. Choose from our library, or create your own. Fit them together to create a professional look. It’s that easy. And, it packs your pages with students. ONLY FROM HERFF JONES.
H O W Y E A R B O O K S TA K E S H A P E ™
COVERAGE MATTERS MOS T A
few years ago, Beth Ann Brown, CJE, noticed a student in her English class at Northeastern High School in Manchester, Pennsylvania, using his free time differently than the other students. He would quietly build towers from two boxes of erasers.
GATHER the last four yearbooks and a student-body list. CREATE a list of who has been covered too much and who has been covered too little.
“He very rarely interacted and stayed mostly to himself,” Brown said. But she knew that was no reason to exclude him from the history book. “One of my editors saw him doing this and took some pictures of him.” O n d i s t r i but ion d ay, t h at split-second decision paid off. “ To that point, I had never seen true joy on his face. I still remember the change in him that day,” she said.
TIPS FOR GETTING TO ZERO ZEROS
Brow n w itnessed the power of our Zero Zeros campaign — having zero students covered zero times. To tell every story, staffs scour their indexes at the start of each year to log coverage of every student. The staff designates those who are not covered as Zero Zeros. This list becomes part of the staff’s coverage strategy — their crusade for the coming year. Getting the number of Zero Zeroes to, well, zero is a campaign every staff should undertake. “If we do not include everyone, then we have not told the entire story,” Brown said. “Only they can tell a stor y or complete the stor y telling by being photographed.” Imag ine at tending a school for 180 days and not finding
you r sel f on a page of you r school’s yearbook. Not seeing your involvement or presence at all. “We talk about coverage every day because it is so important. We want as many of our readers as possible to be delighted when they get their books.” This is your scoreboard. The nu mb er of a nd p erc ent a ge of st udents covered is your scoreboard. Not awards. Not accolades. Not pats on the back. A l l st udent s deser ve to be remembered, and their stories told in our books.
Creating an inclusive yearbook
POST a list of every student in the school. Highlight names in yellow the first time they are included and blue a second time. When a name is green, they are off limits. RUN coverage reports. Click the reports tab in eDesign or run your index in InDesign. Send coverage counts to parents of non-buying students through emails, calls, postcards or posters in the halls. MAKE one staffer responsible. A coverage editor can ensure balance among stories from day one. This person should approve interviewees before staffers go out for interviews. COMPILE a list of overcovered students and substitute under-covered students when possible. This is especially doable with sports photos where there should be several choices for action photos. WE DON’T GET A DO-OVER WITH SENIORS, so track coverage closely starting in January. Make a plan to include all remaining seniors not covered.
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of AQ U I L A // T H E H A R K E R S C H O O L // S A N J O S E , C A
At The Harker School, senior section editor Melissa Kwan knew everyone had a story to tell, and she would start with a “Humans of” concept. Here are ways they made the project a hit. LET THE CONCEPT INSPIRE YOU
Humans of Harker is more than a journalistic venture. It’s an affirmation that despite the rules of AP Style, sometimes “Joe Schmo” can be as newsworthy as Taylor Swift. In newsrooms geared toward weighty issues, it’s a reminder that moments of all magnitudes hold a place in the human experience, and by extension, in our high school publications.
HAVE GREAT EXAMPLES
Show your leadership staff’s best work, curated before the school year starts. Inspire your staff, and your staff will start to inspire others.
DECIDE ON YOUR OUTPUT
Whether you want to upload a profile a day or release all the profiles at once, create a schedule and stick to it.
GO BEYOND THE RÉSUMÉ
Keep in mind, you’re trying to answer one fundamental question: Why is what you do worth it? Sure, the “What do you do?” question is necessary, but the “Why do you do it?” question is more important.
FIND THE QUOTE THAT TELLS IT
We interviewed one girl who loved science research, and we were deciding which of her quotes to publish. The first quote was noble, but generic. The second quote demonstrated her love of research in a more authentic way, so we went with the second.
DON’T BE AFRAID OF RE-REPORTING
It usually takes multiple tries to scrub off those layers of cliché. With perseverance and some nagging, the end version will be more genuine.
CONTINUED ON BACK COVER FULL CONTENTS ON YBKFOLIO.COM
Harker’s tips for creating a successful “Humans of ” project
The force behind Folio: Ann Akers Hayley Behal Betsy Brittingham Nelson Helm Bethany Hopper Kyle Lewis Sam Long Becky Sharkey, editor Steve Kent, creative director
YEARBOOK R E S CUE Students from Newsome and Strawberry Crest high schools gather content for a neighboring school’s yearbook on March 29.
We thank those in our network for their contributions: Beth Ann Brown, CJE, adviser, Northeastern HS
Martin Krok, student photographer, Redondo Union HS
Natalie Niemeyer, MJE, adviser, Des Moines East HS
Morris Pate, representative, Tampa, Florida
Linda Puntney, MJE, consultant The staff of The Harker School, San Jose, California
The staff of Warren Hills HS Washington, New Jersey
COLOPHON Volume 23 of Herf f Jones’ magazine ref lects a new name. Folio better describes its contents and function. The volume number continues to increase in honor of the magazine’s rich history. Staff members from our international network submitted their work for consideration. Each, credited to the extent submitted by the staff member with photographer name, school name and location. © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO PORTION OF THIS MAGAZINE MAY BE DUPLICATED, REPRODUCED OR PHOTOGRAPHED, INCLUDING EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS AND SLIDE SHOWS, WITHOUT PRIOR, WRITTEN CONSENT FROM HERFF JONES, THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OF THIS PUBLICATION. THE WORK DISPLAYED REMAINS THE PROPERTY OF ITS CREATORS.
R e m e m b e r, t h i s m a g a z i n e i s for inspirat ion, not duplicat ion. Vegetable-based inks were applied to 100-pound matte paper through a Heidelberg® Speedmaster XL 106 press in Herff Jones’ Kansas City printing facility. Folio was produced using Adobe® InDesign® CC 2018, Illustrator® CC 2018 and Photoshop® CC 2018. All type, graphics and photos were output via a Fujifilm Luxel Vx9600 Violet CTP Device wide imagesetter, outputting direct-to-plate (CTP) 2400 dpi at 175-line screen. Herff Jones and Herff Jones logo are registered trademarks of Herff Jones, a Varsity Achievement brand. Adobe InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems, Inc. And, Heidelberg is a registered trademark of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG.
A
dvisers Jim Govreau and Morgan Miltner both submitted their final yearbooks March 9. But, they still had a book to complete. Gov reau, of Newsome Hig h School, a nd Miltner, Strawberry Crest High School, both in Hillsborough County, Florida, and their staffs teamed up to do the impossible — create an entire book in two weeks for a neighboring school in need. With no cover, no pages submitted and an adviser who started in the second semester with no yearbook experience, the Tampa-area staff was about to end the year without a book. SEE YBKFOLIO.COM FOR THE FULL STORY
Staf fs lend aid to school in need
Harker’s tips for creating a successful “Humans of ” project CONTINUED FROM P. 12
GO BEYOND THE ONE-SOURCE Interview friends, siblings, teachers and coaches. They add dimensions to profiles.
GET PEOPLE INVESTED
We encouraged reporters to chase quality for their own enjoyment, instead of simply checking off requirements for an editor’s demand.
ESTABLISH STANDARDS
How many words per article? What level of environmental photography do you want to achieve? How many alternate sources? Keep your expectations consistent.
ASK FOLLOW-UP QUESTIONS
Teach your staff to ask follow-up questions, instead of mechanically marching through a preset list.