From time to time we spotlight Balfour advisers and schools. In this guest post from Shawnee Heights adviser Jeni Daley, Jeni shares her six-month production schedule after the current book is complete. This is her fourth year teaching and advising. This post originally ran in the Spring 2019 issue of Balfour's magazine Elements.
Although advisers don’t often have the luxury of determining when their books deliver, I found having a spring delivery book is both efficient and focused. When the final deadline lands in February or March, yearbook doesn't interfere with my summer plans. It's mine to enjoy. Here’s an outline of how I organize a six-month production schedule.
MARCH:
By spring break, our book is complete. That’s a hard reality to face with spring sports just beginning, but by this point we’ve completed 296 pages and can claim rock star status. Next up: spring supplement and choosing next year’s theme.
APRIL:
April is the time for seniors to leave their legacy (in the midst of a mean case of senioritis). Our supplement is 28 pages. While I start the visionary process of the next book with returning staff members, a dozen seniors produce the supplement. It gives each of them two final spreads to occupy their time.
Dividing the staff into groups, we start a month-long process of selecting our theme for next year. Each group selects areas to research design trends. Categories include nature, fashion, interior design, social media, and more. They analyze colors, graphic elements, shapes, messaging, branding, etc. In a slideshow presenting their research, each group connects these ideas to yearbook theme possibilities. Q&A sessions lead to valuable collaboration and feedback, voting ensues, and eventually, the staff narrows down its options.
Seniors also serve as mentors. Each theme group regularly meets with their assigned seniors who ask questions, point out strengths, and suggest areas for growth and ways to improve.
Beyond theme, April is when I conduct editor interviews. Seniors form an interview panel and give me their perspective on the best fit for each job. Knowing next year’s editors allows me to start training them early.
MAY:
With 2020 editors selected, these leaders will take the reins on organizing the signing party. It’s their first opportunity to lead a big project—we distribute 800 books in 25 minutes—and it’s their first chance to experience the pressure and frenzy of being the ones in charge. They thrive because distribution immediately tests their leadership skills.
Setting goals with these leaders for next year while ideas are still fresh is also a time maximizer. They also have a chance to start building relationships with next year’s staff. I assign each editor five staff members to reach out to and encourage before the last day of school. These simple steps help ensure being editors is a priority before their year of leadership officially begins.
JUNE:
School’s out and summer camp is in. I require editors to attend because we flesh out the ladder, design the cover, coordinate the endsheet design, mock up the division pages, and bond as a team. These three days are jam-packed, but a couple of late nights together in June make August so much sweeter.
JULY:
Relax! Enjoy your summer doing anything but yearbook!
AUGUST:
Before school, editors get together to eat pizza and talk yearbook—dreams, strategies, calendar, ladder, etc. We also prepare business ad routes. After determining our financial goals, we prepare business ad routes by creating route sheets, maps, car assignments and updated rate sheets. Before the year begins, we are 100 percent ready to bring in money early.
The best part of August—our overnight lock-in. The first Friday of school, I host an overnight lock-in at the school with the entire journalism staff. It’s 90 percent play/10 percent learning, but there’s something special that happens when kids stay up all night together that I can’t replicate in a 53-minute class. It’s pure exhaustion but worth the one night I sacrifice sleep.
Because of the time I spent prepping, I feel prepared for the chaos yearbook brings when the wheels get rolling in August. When I invest my best efforts in the six months leading to the start of school, I can focus on the real perks of the job: creating opportunities for high school kids to be kinder, better communicators and helpful individuals with life skills they can use in any industry.