50 Years of Trust: How the University of Notre Dame Found a Reliable Partner in Walsworth Yearbooks

For half a century, the University of Notre Dame has chosen to print its yearbook with Walsworth Yearbooks. With such a distinguished reputation in education, what matters most to them when they decide who to trust with their publication?

Walsworth spoke with University of Notre Dame Print Media Coordinator and yearbook adviser Dylan Wallace and Dome yearbook editor-in-chief Natalie Modugno about their journeys with yearbook and the role Walsworth Yearbooks plays in creating a quality printed yearbook to represent their school.

The Most Trusted Name

The University of Notre Dame’s long-standing relationship with Walsworth is largely due to their Walsworth Yearbooks sales representative, Valerie T. Tanke, CJE, who has worked with this account for over 30 years. Wallace said her help has proved invaluable to the success of their yearbook. As a first-year adviser, Wallace appreciates her expertise.

“Val has so much knowledge about it. For someone like me, who came in and was new and was trying to just learn everything, to have her as a resource was really helpful. She’s always really responsive. She’s quick to answer us … To have someone like that from Walsworth who’s always in communication with us is really helpful,” Wallace said.

Wallace and Modugno both emphasized the convenience of Walsworth’s Yearbook 360 – Online Design platform.

“I do feel like Walsworth’s [Yearbook 360 – Online Design] is definitely a helpful platform, and Val always has good tricks,” Modugno said, recalling how Tanke could give quick solutions when they were struggling. “She would teach us how to use transparency and different things. She showed us you could bold fun text by creating it as an object and then adding thickness; that was the coolest thing I had ever seen! So fun. She definitely provided us with a lot of insights, but also Walsworth in general is really easy to use. It’s great because people who join the yearbook are like, ‘I’ve never designed before,’ and we can easily show them how.”

“It gives you a nice display, and it’s easy to keep track of everything,” Wallace added. “To have something like that, it just makes it a little easier to see everything and keep track of it all.”

The Student Body Response

Wallace, Modugno and the entire Dome staff worked tirelessly to create the 2024 yearbook, and their efforts paid off. Wallace explained that every time they brought a fresh batch of yearbooks to distribute around campus over a three-to-four-day period, they seemingly disappeared with how fast students picked them up.

“We ran out hours before we were supposed to be done every single day,” Wallace said. “It just shows the undergraduate student body is really excited to get their yearbooks, and Natalie and her staff did a really good job promoting this on social media.”

They make a point to keep the three previous years’ yearbooks available at distribution and often see numerous students who pick up the current yearbook asking for ones from their freshman, sophomore or junior years too.

Standout Features

Wallace partially attributes their yearbook’s popularity to Modugno and her staff’s efforts to involve other organizations and groups on campus for an inclusive coverage strategy.

“People are willing to send us pictures and help out because everyone wants to make sure they’re included in the yearbook. You don’t want to be the one dorm or the one sports team that’s excluded from the yearbook,” Wallace said. “The feedback’s been really great this year. We’ve been really happy with it.”

“We made it a top priority to get every dorm pictured, which definitely helped people get excited about it. And we worked a lot on our social media presence,” Modugno said, which she felt contributed to the positive energy and reception.

The cover became a massive hit with students. While Wallace felt nervous going into his first year after hearing that last year’s cover was the best one ever, they decided to go a completely different direction this year.

“When I first got here, they showed me last year’s yearbook, which was the Legacy gold and green cover. The first thing I heard was, ‘Everyone says this is the best cover they’ve ever done. No one’s going to beat it. It’ll be tough to beat.’ And then, when we unveiled the cover at our banquet two or three weeks ago, people said that now ours, the one we just did, was one of the best ones they’ve ever seen.”

The staff worked with Walsworth Cover Artist Lauren Kellam, and they credit her with understanding their vision and crafting it into a tangible reality. Wallace said they could not be happier with how the cover turned out.

“What was amazing was definitely the cover. It was great to work with a Walsworth designer and share our ideas. They were very helpful in our own brainstorming process and in bringing our ideas to life. We were able to go back and forth to try to make it perfect,” Modugno said.

“We were writing down what people said about the yearbook this year, and people were always saying how gorgeous it was … We don’t like when people judge a book by its cover, but in this case, we’re happy to.’” Modugno continued.

Wallace said Modugno’s commitment to inclusive coverage, more stories, and capturing Notre Dame’s unique persona led to overwhelming praise.

How Does Yearbook Translate?

Modugno, a senior majoring in political science and applied computational mathematics and statistics, explained how yearbook skills translate into her seemingly unrelated major and how thankful she is for those opportunities to grow.

“A lot of the skills I learned from the yearbook, such as organization and time management, have helped with my senior thesis, which helped me work on my research process and explore my interests,” Modugno said. “It’s inspired me to try to work towards having a job that’s more about what I’m passionate about. Being able to spend time on the yearbook, it’s a good moment in my life where I get to do something I love. I learned I don’t want to give that up for a job.”

Wallace, clearly proud of Modugno, couldn’t resist adding praise for her demonstrated leadership, mentioning how he felt she would use those skills in her future career.

“This yearbook looks really good, and it’s because of how she led it,” Wallace said. “She’s humble about it, but she was a really great leader. She set us up for a lot of success in the future because of how she molded some of the other people on staff. The editor-in-chief coming in next year is going to have a lot that she can take from what Natalie did that’s going to help us transition into next year.”

When asked what advice they would offer fellow yearbookers, Modugno stressed the crucial role of relationships in ensuring the success of the end product.

“Rely on one another and work on your community, because having a supportive staff definitely makes a difference. It makes you even more proud of your product because you know you put your heart and soul into it and your friends did as well.”

Wallace advised to break the mold of what’s already been done.

“When you come in, you want to look at what last year’s staff did and might want to try to find some things that are easy to translate over, which is fine in certain things, but you also want to try to make it different. You want to try to make it your own style, your own flavor. And that’s what it did this year. And that’s what hopefully next year’s staff, future years staff will do,” Wallace said. “You don’t necessarily have to try to beat it, but just try to make it something you wanted to do and that you think looks good … try something different.”

Proud Partners

Walsworth takes great pride in its long-standing relationship with the University of Notre Dame. In addition to printing their yearbook, Walsworth’s commercial division also prints their commencement programs and several student magazines. This allows an even wider audience to benefit from Walsworth’s quality and service.

“Working with the University of Notre Dame yearbook is a privilege,” said Tanke. “Our relationship with Notre Dame is a true partnership. For 50 years, we have created an outstanding student publication. The staff takes their responsibility seriously, knowing the yearbook is a lasting memory of their years on campus. I still get excited when I visit, and I can feel the history as I walk through the most beautiful campus. I am grateful to have this experience.”

The Dome staff hosts an end-of-year yearbook banquet each year, which was attended by Tanke, Walsworth Area Sales Manager Mark Sigman and Walsworth Director of Client Relations Tripp Walsworth. Tripp joined his father, Don Walsworth, and grandfather, Don O. Walsworth, as the fourth generation at the company.

“It is an honor to be partners with such an outstanding institution as it is one of the longest and most treasured schools we have. We are thrilled to continue to capture and share their memories and look forward to the future,” Walsworth said, sharing how much he enjoyed meeting the staff and attending such a special event.

Wallace echoed the proud sentiments, specifically mentioning an email conversation with Walsworth President Don Walsworth.

“It’s been a really good partnership … It’s great to meet a lot of the people I haven’t met at the banquet and have them tell us how much Notre Dame means to them,” Wallace said. “The fact that they really enjoy making the Notre Dame yearbook helps us because we know in the back of our head, even though things can get really tight on deadlines, things can get a little tough … Walsworth is always willing to try to work with us.”