What a crazy way to start the year! Reporting on school events while we’re distance learning creates some issues. Not only is The Prowl finding ways to be creative while we’re gone, but Yearbook is in the same situation. How do you record events if there are few events to cover?
With Covid-19, classes like Yearbook will need to take a different approach. This year, the coverage will be organized chronologically by month. Rather than by topic, the yearbook staff will gather ideas and photos and focus on familiar stories with unique angles. This approach also allows for more flexible content and a more comprehensive range of content. And the staff working on this year’s Yearbook are curious to see how this all pans out.
“We want to focus on people and the process by building staff culture early on and teaching the basics and foundational knowledge of yearbook so that the staff can be confident leaders,” said Ms. Brooks, the Yearbook Adviser told The Prowl.
The yearbook staff is currently working to develop this year’s theme, so we now don’t have any topics written down. However, if we return to school, the book’s organization will remain the same, and there will be no sudden changes as the yearbook staff is mandated to stick to their deadlines and theme.
Along with the themes, Yearbook is figuring out how to cover sports, a big part of the year-long book of memories. What will happen to our sports page, as we have every year, even if sports are cancelled?
The Yearbook will still feature athletes and their stories with quotes, interviews, and personal submissions of their photos. The main plan is to feature all student-athletes.
Class pictures are still part of the plan; however, it will be just slightly different since we are not all at school. The goal is to feature all students in the Yearbook, like sports, with contributions from everyone, and we will be able to have all students in the Yearbook. Submissions may include some birthday photos, just so the students get an image in the Yearbook.
“Students can easily get distracted and lose motivation while studying from home, we all want to know how this will work in the yearbook staff,” Ms. Brooks stated.
While we are not quite sure what approach other schools in MUSD might be taking, we are thinking something along the lines of what we are planning on doing. Thank Ms. Brooks for taking the time out of her day to answer a few questions.
