Before the final bell rings and students greet summer break, purchasers received this year’s dark green yearbook. A yearbook captures the happiest and most uplifting memories from the school year, but without the work and dedication of the Yearbook staff, led by English teacher Erika Crowley, the 25-26 school year yearbook would not have been as special.
Pictures for the yearbook are taken by professional Rachel Van Den Hout, then sent in to the yearbook company.
“For class pictures, I send in a file with all pictures that come from my color lab after I have edited and submitted them. They are broken into grades. I submit that file to the yearbook adviser for each school (Clay, BMS, BHS). For senior class pictures, I work with the adviser on who all needs to be taken, and then be sure she has one submitted from each senior. If not, I will reach out to parents to help the process along and be sure everyone has submitted one,” Van Den Hout said.
Students have had questions about various parts of the yearbook, mostly about who got in. But to the yearbook staff and their adviser, there’s not much they can do if a photo of a student isn’t included in the original plans for the yearbook.
“The photographer sends in a file, and the file goes to Jostens. Jostens automatically uploads the ninth, tenth, and eleventh grades, so those aren’t touched by staff members. Senior pages are only hand-made, so names are typed out by hand or pictures are put in by hand,” Crowley said.
Junior Gary Phelps found that his picture wasn’t in the yearbook, and was surprised by his disappearance from the junior page, but understood that it was a mistake and that it happens.
“If I had gotten a yearbook, I would want to be able to look back and see myself in the school as well as everybody else,” Phelps said.
Some students or their parents can opt out of being in the yearbook, but very few do. Most of the students who aren’t on their grades’ page are seniors who don’t like their regular school photo and have a more personalized one at the beginning of the yearbook instead.
“(When it comes to) seniors, we typically get more people to opt out because they don’t want their school picture necessarily, but if they didn’t take a senior photo, then they’ll opt to not be in it at all,” Crowley said.
