The call came during the summer of 2005. "Keep an open mind while I tell you this," said Kathie Thompson. She told me that she wanted me to take over the yearbook. "Does it bother you that I don't know what I'm doing?" I asked. She felt confident I could do it, and I promised two years before we would revisit whether I should continue with it. That year, I learned more about computers, organization, planning, and guiding students than I had in the rest of my life before (or since).
This year, eighteen years later, we have an enrollment of over 850. We have 27 athletic teams, two theater productions each year, more fine arts classes, more clubs, an active student council, and bigger graduating classes. Last year's book was 176 pages long. During that time, we also developed the ability to track who was placed in the yearbook, which led to my biggest goal - getting each student K-12 pictured in the book a minimum of three times. Others appear more, of course, because they may be involved in many school activities - (The record remains Alex Dolwick.) After several years in the high 80s and low 90s, Harrison Huntley said we should try to get 100%. I declared that to be impossible, but then we did it. We've done it every year since, even the hybrid year (well, we were 2 people shy of 100% that year).
The yearbook is more work than I ever knew was possible. From photographing events to assigning pages to emailing senior parents and teachers for the photos we need to guiding students in page design to marathon proofreading sessions to sorting books for distribution, the book you hold in your hands is much more than paper and ink. There's love in those pages, and there has been for the past 18 years.
Last spring, I started feeling that it was time to pass The Torch to someone else. I emailed Mandy Gill and told her what I had in mind (more on that in a future post), and she replied, "Sounds great. I'll start working on it." That was at the end of April. At the beginning of May, the fine arts department was having a meeting, and Wendy Warlick said, "I'd love to the yearbook someday, but I'd never take it away from Beth." Because the fine arts chair, Elizabeth Walters, is my friend, she knew my plan and said, "You're going to want to go talk to her right now." It's funny how God just lines things up like that.
Throughout this year of lasts, there are a few things that I'm happy to give up, thinking "Whew, I won't have to do that again." There are also some more melancholy moments, in which I think, "Oh, man. I guess I won't get to do this again." There are definitely some mixed emotions, which will only increase as the year goes on and I get closer to my last distribution. But my overriding emotion is thankfulness. I'm thankful for what the yearbook has given me over these last 18 years. Here's a short but very incomplete list.
- Connection with teachers and students from TK through 12th grade - I sometimes creep out students when they come to the meet and greet before their 8th-grade year r I already know their names. "How did you know?" they ask, and I have to stop myself from saying, "Do you know how many hours I have stared at your face in order to match your name to it?" There are students that I look forward to teaching from the time they are in kindergarten because they have been fun to photograph for so many years. I had a girl come in one year, look at me, and say, "Finally." I knew exactly what she meant. I've had very young kids approach me in public, to the confusion and apprehension of their parents. Trust me when I say it does not bring down their alarm level if I say, "Don't worry. She knows me because I've taken her picture a lot."
- Tangible contribution to legacy - Teachers sometimes don't get to see their legacy. The seeds we plant can take a very long time to grow. Sometimes, we see the fruit, and sometimes we just have to trust that seeds will grow eventually. The day the books arrive and the day they are distributed, I get an immediate sense of gratification that this work we have done is in our hands. Sometimes, I walk through the lobby and see prospective parents and students in the lobby, looking through a yearbook to get an idea of what the school is like. It always makes me smile to see the work I have done meaning something to someone else.
- A complete picture of GRACE - It's easy for teachers to get tunnel vision about their schools. I teach 8th-grade science and physics, so it would be easy for me to lose sight of the fact that there are younger kids and other subjects and that kids have extracurricular involvement if I hadn't been the yearbook advisor. Everyone knows how much I love GRACE Christian School, and one of the reasons I love it is that I know it so deeply from top to bottom.
- Jostens Staff - I know there are other yearbook companies out there, but for me, Jostens is the only one. I began this job with no idea what I was doing, and Jay, my Jostens rep was so kind as he walked me through everything. He even asked me for suggestions for changes they could make to the site like I wasn't as green as grass. When he came to visit, we would always end up talking for an hour or more after school got out. At that time, my plant rep was Anissa (now married to Jay), and she was so good about helping me solve problems after a page was submitted or emailing to say they had put a page on hold because there was something they found that they thought I might like to deal with before it went into production. I have different reps now (as Jay and Anissa moved at the end of the hybrid year), but they remain the high-quality partners I've come to expect from Jostens. My relationships with them aren't just business relationships; they are part of my community.
- My yearbook staffs - The first year that I took over as advisor, the majority of my class didn't really want to be there. They had signed up for electives late and gotten their third or fourth choice. I did, however, have a core of people that I knew to be responsible and creative. Those four met with me on separate days and ended up being my first editorial team. Every year after that, I have been able to recruit great staff members. I have had people join as freshmen (even 8th graders back when our electives met all together) to prove themselves dedicated and insightful and become editors by their junior or senior years. It takes something special and quirky to be great at yearbook editing, and of course, quirky is my defining quality, so these students have often been those I developed the closest relationships with during their time at school. I have loved getting to know them and seeing what they pursue after high school. Some have stayed in touch long after they left me. Part of me wants to list them here to specify how thankful I am for them, but I fear I would leave someone out, and I don't want to do that.
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