Yearbook Outside of Yearbook: How Yearbook Translates to College and Beyond

During my time in high school, I heavily involved myself in clubs and activities, including band, community service club and student council. My most impactful activity, however, was my four years in yearbook. I excelled in it and had a wonderful time being a part of it. Some of my best friends also participated, and my adviser encouraged us and wanted the best for the entire staff. The lessons I learned stayed with me long after my time on staff ended and extended well beyond the yearbook classroom. Here are some of the lessons I learned and how they have impacted my life since.

DIFFICULTIES BEHIND THE BOOK

I finally decided to apply for a leadership role and became the social media editor at Smithville High School my senior year. When I got the editor role, I felt so excited and couldn’t wait to start. I quickly learned that although I had a great time and felt good about the work that needed to get done, I sometimes encountered problematic people. Among them were several editors assigned to revise staff members’ spreads. Instead of working through the spread with the original designer, they trashed the design and redesigned it themselves. Staff members sometimes only discovered this when they saw the printed book. There were also a few of our younger staff members who were overconfident in their photography skills and not open to feedback.

Those things made life a little difficult at times, but I learned how to deal with those situations and did what I could to make the situation better.

ADVICE FROM AN EDITOR

Once I started college, I recognized a lot of common factors when dealing with different types of people, and I used my experience in yearbook to help deal with similar situations years down the line. While I don’t have the same level of involvement in college yearbook as I did in my high school yearbook, I still use those same strategies today.

The most significant activity I currently participate in is marching band. I attend Northwest Missouri State University and am a part of the Bearcat Marching Band (BMB), where I play the piccolo. BMB and yearbook have several commonalities; good, neutral and challenging. Both include people who believe they are better than you at everything. Although plenty of enjoyable people welcomed me, I’ve learned that everywhere you go, you will find someone with a competitive nature trying to outshine you.

Yearbook taught me that when these types of people come around, just roll your eyes and move on…sometimes. It may get to a point where someone gets a little too comfortable telling people what to do and may not realize how they sound. Laugh it off, if you can. Time often teaches them better than you ever could.

Situations may also occur where you must stick up for yourself and others. Remember how I said some people would change other people’s spreads? Some of the designs needed serious edits. But rather than changing the design without the original designer knowing, coaching the original designer to fix their spread would have resulted in a cleaner spread and the other staff members learning what to do next time.

With all of that said, I loved my experience with yearbook. I value the memories I made and it remains the best thing I did in my high school career. No matter where you go, there will always be someone who gets on your nerves. Learn to deal with it and de-escalate tense situations. Communication is your best friend. Once you know how to communicate with your team, everything gets much easier and things move a lot more smoothly. So next time someone is bringing you down, take a deep breath and think about your time in yearbook.