Writing a Yearbook Colophon

WHAT IS A COLOPHON [KOL-UH-FON]

“A Cola Who?” This is a phrase often uttered in the yearbook room when the adviser mentions to the editor in chief that it is time to write the colophon for the last deadline. Often editors are flummoxed at the idea of writing a technical piece, but it is a necessary “finish” to a professional publication.

Simply put, a colophon is a statement of important printing information and a reference tool for those interested in the mechanics of printing. The term comes from the Greek word kolophon, meaning “finishing touch” and originating from the Ionian city of Colophon, whose citizens were seen to be of strategic value in battle. Thus if the Colophonians were involved in a fight, the battle would be finished!

Originally the colophon was a symbol of the publishing house that appeared on the title page and sometimes the spine of books. It has evolved from a symbol to a statement which includes such specifics as the weight of the paper, the featured typefaces, the press run and salient business information.

For yearbooks, the colophon also includes the name of the printer, the location of the plant, and the names of the publisher’s representatives, both inside and outside the plant. It is also customary to describe the software and the hardware used, in addition to the brands of the cameras. Special enhancements to the cover and endsheets are included as well. This gives others the opportunity to see what is out there as they plan their books. In addition, the colophon provides the perfect place for the concept or theme to be verbalized. Often editors include a description of how the staff determined the theme and how they chose to carry it throughout the book. They provide these examples as a record for themselves and for future staffers who read the colophon.

Colophons often include memberships in state and national organizations such as NSPA and CSPA and end with a list of the honors and awards the book has won the previous year if applicable. Some editors also use the colophon to thank people in the school and community who have helped them with production. Occasionally, staffs will include the colophon on a full spread to offer senior editors the chance to “say goodbye.” Be careful if you choose to do this since the colophon should always be professional in its tone.

If you are unsure of the exact terminology, much of the data that you’ll need can be found on your specifications form or in the paperwork that you receive from the plant. Writing the colophon puts the ideal “finishing touch” on your masterpiece, your yearbook, and once it is complete, the “battle” is finished!

COLOPHON CHECKLIST

• software/hardware information
• camera brand and model
• concept/theme synopsis
• cover and endsheet specifications
• paper type and weight
• typefaces used
• press run
• name of printer
• location of plant
• name of representative and customer service adviser
• business information (e.g. price of book, number of books sold, etc.)
• journalism memberships
• awards received
• thank you to patrons
• letter from the editor

Contributed by:
Mary Kay Downes, yearbook adviser
Chantilly High Schoool, VA

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Covering Campus Deaths

IT’S THE PLAN YOU HOPE TO NEVER USE

“Never make important decisions when you are upset.”

This is some really good advice my mom gave me years ago and, while it applies to all areas of life, it’s especially relevant for yearbook advisers and staffs. When a student or faculty member dies, it impacts the entire school community, including yearbook staffers and advisers.

While the greater community will have time to grieve, yearbook staffs on deadline may not have much time to make some very important decisions. This is why your staff should create an obituary policy now.

To get started, look at sample obituary policies from other yearbook staffs. As you evaluate and tweak these policies to create something that works for your school, here are a few things you will want to think about and discuss:

Would we be comfortable implementing this policy regardless of how the person passed away?

Does the policy take into consideration printing deadlines? What will you do if someone dies after your final proofs have been submitted? What if someone dies after the book comes out?

Would you be able to use your policy, even if several people passed away during the same year?

As documentarians of the year, your staff will likely want to cover how the tragedy has impacted your school. If hundreds of people show up for a vigil or a group of students paint a mural in memoriam, your reporters should be there to cover the event. How will you cover these events that are certainly newsworthy but at the same time remain sensitive to the intense emotions your school and yearbook staff are likely experiencing?

An obituary policy is a lot like insurance; you hope you never have to use it, but when you need it, you’ll be glad it’s there. A carefully crafted policy can make a difficult time a little bit easier for you and your staff and may even provide some comfort to a grieving family and community.

Odyssey, Chantilly HS, Chantilly, VA

REMEMBERING KAY RICHARDS
Following their policy which says that editorial coverage will be used following a student death, this mod appeared on the speech and debate spread the following year.

Contributed by:
Meghan Percival, yearbook adviser
McLean HS, McLean, VA

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Guide to Coverage

THERE’S MORE TO THE STORY

A GUIDE TO COVERAGE THAT MAKES YOUR BOOK FRESH EACH YEAR.

MORE LOCALIZED

Tell the unique story of your school and the community. Be sure to include the topics that anchor you in your area and that show how and why you’re different than other schools in other towns in other parts of the country.

MORE VOICES

Give as many students as possible a chance to comment. Displays of quotes and longer first-person essays provide the opportunity for literally hundreds of students to be included in the book.

MORE PERSONAL

Find students with interesting tales of achievement, unusual experiences or typical life situations. Often a full spread, the key to strong profiles is a great interview, a compelling story, and exceptionally well-written copy.

MORE ISSUES

If it is important to your readers, put it in the book. Responsible coverage of issues includes research, balanced reporting and a local or humanized approach that ties the story to your school.

FONT IDEAS

Look for ideas that are different from what you have done in every other book and stretch your coverage by brainstorming harder at book planning time.

MORE JUMPS

Decide when it makes sense to have a topic expand onto a second or third spread and let the content dictate coverage. If the story is “bigger” than one spread, give it more than one spread.

MORE SEGMENTS

Who says that the sports section has to be all coverage of teams and their seasons? You might decide to add any number of new sports segments.

MORE SECTIONS

If it seems logical that an events or features section makes your story complete, include that section in your book. There’s no rule that says you must divide coverage into the same sections every year.

MORE ANALYSIS

If your theme or concept dictates some pattern other than standard sections, feel free to revise. Changing the number and order of sections in your book makes it new for the readers each year.

MORE OPTIONS

Modular design can help you make the most of secondary coverage. Create a library of possibilities that are visual, verbal, or both, and use them to cover each topic in the best way possible.

MORE FUN

Create the news that’s fit to print. Devise new opportunities for the students to be in the book and let them be a part of creating your coverage. They love it!!!

Contributed by:
Paul Ender
Herff Jones Special Consultant
Former JEA Yearbook Adviser of the Year

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When the Struggle is Real, Adapt

Erinn Harris had everything figured out. She ran the well-oiled machine that was the yearbook program at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. And, she had a system in place.

“Tell them what needs to happen, print at 100%, conference, and everything will get done. Because it always gets done,” the Alexandria, Virginia adviser said.

It was like magic.

That was the plan for five years. And it was the plan at the beginning of the year. But then, she said, 2018 became the year of, “Oh So Real.”

“My class was comprised of two sophomores, two juniors and two seniors,” she said. “Even though I knew only two of these six had a year of class experience under their belts, this is how I started the year. And as of December, we were behind by 49 pages and more proofs than I’d like to admit.”

It was winter break and she needed to start over. The plan from the past five years was not going to cut it anymore. So, she changed.

“The key to adapting to the circumstances of your year is to know yourself and know your kids and figure out what they need to be successful, understanding success may just look different year to year,” the master journalism educator said.

This year, she said, the staff needed structure. In January, she created it.

“At the end of every class period, my students fill out a Google form exit ticket. On it, they tell me, among other things, three items they want to accomplish before the next class period, something they are worried about and something they are celebrating.”

Download an example of the form here.

The form dictated how the class ran. Each day, she used responses to create individual goals. Then, in class they followed a new agenda. They shared celebrations, moved to a short lesson, spent 30 minutes on goal work, then 30 minutes planning for upcoming deadlines. To finish the period, staffers filled out their exit tickets.

No longer a, “Here’s what needs to get done, now do it,” adviser, Harris focused on celebrations.

“When you’re having a rough year, that’s what’s going to get you through,” she said. “The knowledge that the experiences we’re going through are so thoroughly relatable. All you have to do is find a way to adapt to what life throws at you.”

Erinn Harris has advised student publications for 12 years, three at Lee High School in Springfield,Virginia and nine at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. Recently earning the Virginia High School League Savedge Award for Continued Excellence, these staffs have earned NSPA Pacemaker awards and CSPA Crowns.

Read more yearbook blog stories about advisers like This Little Rectangular Game-Changer and It’s Time for the Talk.

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It’s Time for the Talk

At the close of the year, distribution day sounds like the light at the end of the tunnel. But, it’s not for the faint of heart. Or for the unprepared.

Justin Daigle has lived through a few distribution days as the adviser at Brighton High School in Brighton, Colorado, and he knows how to prepare his staff for the challenging moments. He knows when it’s time for “the talk.”

He begins with how they communicate with each other. Negativity comes from all directions, but should never come from the staff, he said.

“Let’s face it, each time we open the book, we find some new type of error: A misspelled name or word, a graphic in the wrong place, or a bar that’s blue instead of red. First, we have to accept the book is printed and we did the best we could,” the certified journalism educator said.

As Daigle reminds his staffers to leave behind their critical eyes once the ink has dried, he tells them to stay out of the comments section.

“If a student sees a negative social media post about the yearbook, I want them to be the bigger person and let it go. No staff member should post anything negative or passive aggressive about any incidents or feedback from the book,” he said.

Repeat: Do. Not. Engage. The. Haters.

And Daigle leads the charge. When those inevitable parent phone calls start, and when students post hateful comments about a page, he lets it go.

He teaches how to combat negativity by being proactive.

“I send an email to the school employees revealing the theme and the details about yearbook distribution. I ask them to squelch any negative comments they may hear in the halls or in their classrooms and redirect them to how fantastic the book is.”

Another tactic is to include a policy in each book. Staffers put them inside the front endsheet as they hand out books so buyers see they are there.

The policy sheet directs students to check the book for damages, apologizes in advance for typos and mistakes, and includes a statement about yearbook being the only class where work is published for all to see so proceed with complaints accordingly, as well as the staff’s policy against refunds.

There are, of course, legitimate issues, such as name misspellings or direct quote discrepancies. Daigle has a process for those as well.

“First, take a time out. Rather than getting defensive or angry, do your research, and if a mistake was made, own it and apologize,” he said.

Distribution day should be one of the greatest celebrations of the year, and if staffers are prepared for what they will experience, it can be.

“We spend hours upon hours upon hours working on our yearbooks until the final proofs are sent,” Daigle said, “so we become very close to it. We should prepare to celebrate the positive feedback while also putting systems in place to work through any negative criticism. The staff works too hard all year to let any negativity ruin anything we accomplished.”

Download a sample distribution policy here, and if you have your own, send it to us. We love to learn and to see what advisers everywhere are doing.

Justin Daigle, CJE, has advised the Reflections yearbook at Brighton High School in Colorado for 12 years. His students’ publications have earned state and national awards including CSPA Crowns and NSPA Pacemaker honors. Daigle was the 2009 Colorado Student Media Association (CSMA) Teacher of the Year as well as JEA Rising Star in 2010 and Special Recognition (2014) and Distinguished (2016) Yearbook Adviser of the Year..

Read more yearbook blog stories like This Little Rectangular Game-Changer and Cause and Effect.

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Style Sheet for Writing Copy

Use this style sheet as a starting point for your staff. You will need to set rules that pertain to your school. Keep in mind that the ultimate goal when observing style rules is to be consistent within your publication. If you wish to keep a professional style guide on hand, check with Quill and Scroll or the Associated Press for their latest versions.

NAMES AND TITLES

• Use Mr., Mrs., Ms. or the proper title with names of teachers and other adults: Mrs. Carol Amos; Mr. Bob DeLorenzo.
• The first time a name appears in a story, use the full name as the person signs it. Never use a single initial. Be sure names are spelled correctly.
• After the first time a name appears, use Mr., Mrs. or Ms. with the last name for adults. Use the first name for students in features or profiles, but the last name is preferred in traditional journalistic reports and sports stories.
• The first time a name appears in a story, identify the person with his or her proper title. Short titles usually precede the name, but longer titles usually follow the name. They are not capitalized unless they replace Mr., Mrs. or Ms.: Mr. John Myers, superintendent of schools; Student Body President Pete Fuscaldo.

CAPITALIZATION

CAPITALIZE THE FOLLOWING:

• All proper nouns, months, days of the week and holidays.
• Names of sections of the country, but not directions: the Midwest, but he walked west.
• Short titles when they precede the names of adults: Principal Joe Johnson
• Full names of schools, clubs, organizations, streets, geographical areas or companies: North High School Chess Club, National Honor Society, First Street, Big 10 Conference, Westinghouse.
• Proper names for races and nationalities: American, Indian.
• Nicknames of athletic teams: Bearcats, Bees, Huskies.
• Principle words in titles of books, plays, movies or songs, including “a,” “an” or “the” when they appear first in the title.

DO NOT CAPITALIZE THE FOLLOWING:

• School subjects except for languages or specific course titles: algebra, journalism and language arts, but Algebra I, Journalism III and English.
• Personal titles used without names: The principal spoke.
• Street, company, club or other words unless they are part of a specific name: The Science Club met yesterday. The club elected officers.
• Abbreviations for the time of day: a.m., p.m.
• Seasons of the year: fall, summer.
• Academic departments except for words derived from proper nouns: English department, math department.
• Names of classes: ninth grade, senior.

ABBREVIATIONS

• Abbreviate Jr. and Sr. following a name. Do not use a comma between the last name and Jr. or Sr.: Thomas Myers Jr.
• Abbreviate long names of organizations or other familiar names when there can be no confusion. Use no spaces or periods: NHS, FBLA, DECA, FHA.
• Use the abbreviations Ave., Blvd. and St. only with a numbered address: 3514 Locust Ave. Spell them out without a number: Locust Avenue.
• Always use numerals for an address number: 9 Morningstar Lane.
• Spell out and capitalize First through Ninth when used as street names; use numerals with two letters for 10th and above: 137 Fifth St., 459 12th St.
• Do not use signs or abbreviations for percent, distances, weights or degrees.

DATES AND TIMES

• Dates are written one way only: July 28. Never July 28th, 28 July or the 28th of July.
• Never add the year to a date within the current year, the book is about a single year. If an event occurred in previous years or is scheduled into the future, adding the year may clarify things.
• Do not use o’clock to show time. Omit zeros when possible: 3:10 p.m., 2 p.m., noon.
• Months with five letters or more should be abbreviated when followed by a date: The schedule in December is always crazy, but Winter Break begins Dec. 17.

NUMBERS

• Always use numerals for ages, dimensions, money, percentages, days of the month, degrees, hours of the day, scores, room numbers, page or chapter numbers and street numbers.
• Except for those in the preceding rule, spell out numbers one through nine and use numerals for numbers 10 and greater.
• For money under $1, use numerals and the word cents; for $1 or over, use the dollar sign. Omit zeros when possible: 25 cents, $10, $1.50.
• Do not begin a sentence with a numeral. Spell it out or rewrite the sentence.

PUNCTUATION

USE A COMMA IN THE FOLLOWING INSTANCES:

• To separate all words in a series: French, algebra, journalism and English. Do not use a comma before the “and” or “or” in a series.
• To set off appositives or nonessential phrases: Mr. Ray Smith, the journalism teacher, will be there.
• To set off nouns of address: Lisa, will you be there?
• To separate a quotation from the rest of the sentence: “I’ll invite you,” Mike said, “to my party.”
• In addresses: Mrs. Gordon Blake, 233 South 17th St., Richmond, CA
• In numbers over 999, except for street numbers, telephone numbers or item numbers: 1,798 but 1305 First St.
• To connect two sentences with a coordinating conjunction (and, or, nor, so): I am not going to work today, and I do not plan to go tomorrow, either.
• After an introductory adverb or adjective clause: If you are interested, I will give you more information about yearbook camp.

USE A SEMICOLON IN THE FOLLOWING INSTANCES:

• To separate independent clauses not connected by a conjunction: He wrote the story; she typed it.
• Between main divisions of a list: Officers are Lisa Smith, president; Chuck Wilson, vice president; and Bill Callihan, secretary.

USE A COLON IN THE FOLLOWING INSTANCES:

• To introduce a series after the phrase “as follows” or “the following,” but not after verbs such as “are” or “include.” The club elected the following officers: President Kate Ashber and Secretary…
• In time of day, but not on the hour: 3:15 p.m., but 2 p.m.
• To separate minutes from seconds in sports times: 6:17.6.

USE AN APOSTROPHE IN THE FOLLOWING INSTANCES:

• To form a possessive: Lisa’s book. To form a possessive of a plural word not ending in “s,” add an apostrophe and “s”: children’s toys. To form the possessive of a plural word ending in “s,” add an apostrophe after the “s”: students’ notebooks.
• In contractions or to show omitted letters or figures: can’t, don’t, ’84.
• In plurals of single letters and numerals: 3’s, 7’s, A’s, F’s, but not in plurals of numbers (1980s) or multiple letter combinations (RBIs, PDFs).

USE QUOTATION MARKS IN THE FOLLOWING INSTANCES:

• To show the exact words of a speaker: “That was a great game,” Tracy Russ said.
• If a quotation includes several paragraphs, use quotation marks at the beginning of each paragraph and at the end of the last.
• Periods and commas are always placed within the quotation marks. Start a new paragraph each time there is a change of speaker.

USE A HYPHEN IN THE FOLLOWING INSTANCES:

• Use with compound adjectives, but not with the same words as nouns: 50-yard line, cherry-red dress; but he ran 50 yards, the dress was cherry red.
• Use in sports scores: West won, 6–3.
• Use between syllables only to divide words at the end of a line, unless your text style includes turning off hyphenation to avoid the visual distraction.

TITLES

Apply the guidelines listed below to the titles of books, movies, computer games, operas, plays, poems, songs, television shows, speeches and works of art.

• Capitalize the principal words, including prepositions of four or more letters.
• Capitalize articles — “a,” “an,” “the” — if they are the first or last word of a title.
• Italicize the names of books, magazines, albums and movies and use quotes around chapter names, song titles and titles of other components.

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Sentence Structure Types

Professional writers typically use four types of sentence structures when writing copy. Practice emulating each of these sentence structures when composing your yearbook copy.

THREE ACTIONS

The goalie positioned himself in front of the net, waited for his opponent to shoot and blocked the ball from crossing the goal line.

The actress waited for her cue, entered the stage and performed her part.

APPOSITIVE

The chess player, patient and persistent, awaited his opponent’s move. (APPOSITIVE ADJECTIVE)

Mr. Snyder, a guidance counselor at Lake High School, addressed the senior class. (APPOSITIVE NOUN)

Day after day the flag flew, a symbol of patriotism. (APPOSITIVE NOUN)

PARTICIPLE

Sitting in the center of the stands, we could see every play during the football game. (OPENER)

Louise Andrews, wearing a tangerine chiffon dress and silver stilettos, was named the homecoming queen. (SUBJECT-VERB SPLIT)

He dozed off in study hall, dreaming of the day that he would enter college. (CLOSER)

ABSOLUTE

His palms sweating, his heart pounding, Matthew approached Emily and asked her to the Senior Prom. (OPENER)

A spirited cheerleader, her eyes wide with delight, lead the squad in a cheer. (SUBJECT-NOUN SPLIT)

Ann focused on the exam, her eyes scanning the questions, her mind analyzing the answers, her fingers nervously rolling her pencil. (CLOSER)

Sources for this article include the Gettysburg Yearbook Experience notebook and the Yearbooks@thebeach notebook.

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Quick Caption Writing Checklist

Staffers can use this checklist as a quick and easy way to be sure captions are complete and have variety on each spread.

  The caption has some sort of starter — introductory phrase, bold face, color, all caps.

  The first sentence is written in present tense.

  Subsequent sentences are written in past tense.

  The caption has at least two sentences.

  There is variety in the way captions start. Not every caption begins with a name.

  The caption tells more than what is obvious in the photograph.

  The writer’s opinion is avoided in the caption.

  The caption uses picture-painting verbs.

  The caption gives information not already included in the story.

  Sports opponents are identified by jersey number and name.

Want more? Check out our top 10 list for writing detailed captions.

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Become Better Writers

Create a Culture of Practice

“It’s not what you know, but what you can do.” This is a truism that underpins any sort of performance—playing the piano, executing a form in Kung Fu, lashing a drive from the tee with a slight draw—or crafting a well-written story. It seems, advisers might be overworking to help their staffs know about writing—instead of getting out of their way and letting them write. Advisers who care about copy understand that students need to know how to craft coherence into their stories, how to develop their ideas and how strong verbs lead to vigorous copy. But the adviser who is getting kids to actually produce vibrant copy is the adviser who is finding ways to build repetition into the culture of the pressroom. Repetitio est mater studiorum – Latin for “repetition is the mother of studies.” Ask any polished piano player, any practiced martial artist, any refined golfer, any accomplished writer. Repetition leads to excellence.

Keep the instruction TO A MINIMUM, but build a culture of practice. All staff rooms have a culture of rites and rituals; it’s human nature to create that when people spend time together. Our rites of culture range from hanging unused pictures with gag captions, to naming computers so they actually become proxy staff members. I’ve been in staff rooms where the culture includes pajama nights or flag football games. But the culture of practice is another thing all together—and it’s at the center of any successful program. The culture of practice must be built around repetitions that further the craft, and it must be student centered, not adviser imposed. Practices become culture when the kids, not the adviser, teach them. Practices become culture when they take little policing. The trick is to have students practice regularly in ways that are not burdensome and do not interfere with the production of the yearbook. Here are some ideas to help build a culture of practice.

“Read Arounds” of Professional Copy

The more students read the pros, the more they internalize the conventions of the pros. Have students bring in leads—only leads—they think are interesting and gather in groups of four. An editor should run the “read around” by saying pass every 30 seconds, at which point each group member should pass the lead to the right. After three passes, the lead should return to the owner. Give the groups 60 seconds to discuss the leads and choose the best of the group. Call on each group to read the best lead aloud and offer a brief analysis of why the group chose it. Have each student keep a portfolio of professional leads. That’s it—done in less than 10 minutes.

Two-Sentence Stories

The credit for this goes to Dr. William Spivey—and it’s one of the most powerful practices I’ve come across. I use this practice at all levels of my teaching. Spivey suggests professionals tend to use four syntactical structures over and over: the three-action sentence, the appositive, the participial phrase and the absolute phrase.

The three-action sentence employs one subject and three verbs: “The fish darted behind the rock, waited for its enemy to pass and swam away quickly.”

The appositive redescribes or renames: “Nick, the cashier at Raleys, handed back change.”

The participial phrase uses “ing” words to add specificity, either as an opener to a clause or as a closer: “Bursting between the guard and tackle, the tailback scored the go-ahead touchdown.”

The absolute phrase works just like a participial phrase, but it uses a noun plus a participle—and almost always refers to a physiological part of the noun it’s modifying: “The car chugged up the hill, wheels wobbling, tailpipes spewing oil into the sky.”

The trick is to teach the staff one structure a week, have them write two-sentence stories on any topic they want using the mandated structures, and then read them back aloud. At first, call on every student; then after a few weeks, call on only three or four.

I always start with the three-action sentence and put the following model on the board to imitate: Sentence One (open structure) “The golfer stepped to the tee.” Sentence Two (three-action sentence) “He studied the shot, fingered his short irons and slipped a seven iron from his bag.”

The next week I’ll add the participial phrase as an opener for the first sentence, and keep the three-action in place for the second: Sentence One (opening participle) “Cupping his hands around the bill of his cap, Tiger studied the putt.” Sentence Two (three-action) “He stalked to the ball, firmed his stance, and rolled the Nike down his line.”

To teach the absolute, I’ll use the same sentences, but point out that the difference between the participial phrase and the absolute phrase is the noun that comes in front of the participle: Sentence One (absolute phrase) “Hands cupped around the bill of his cap, Tiger studied the putt.” Sentence Two (three-action) “He stalked to the ball, firmed his stance and rolled the Nike down his line.”

After three or four weeks, my copy editor comes in at lunch on Tuesdays and puts a model two-sentence story on the board, using any combination of structures she wants. When the staff walks in, they imitate the structures, my editor calls on a few at random to read aloud—and off the class goes about its real business.

Style Imitation

This is the creme de la creme of creating a culture of practice for writers. Find a short piece of professional copy—one of the weekly leads is easiest—and copy it onto an overhead. Try to get the staff to articulate and catalogue stylistic features that make the copy cool. Then have every person in the room imitate the piece as closely as possible as if he or she were writing about something in high school. Here is a lead from ESPN Magazine (a terrific magazine from which to study voice) that I always use to introduce this exercise:

Check out that Internet athlete. That’s him boarding the bus, gym bag slung over one shoulder, laptop case hanging over the other. Inside that leather case is the life he once handed over to his sport. The family he kissed goodbye that morning. The friends he can’t reach from the road. The hobby that used to wait until season’s end.

I try to get the staff to articulate exactly what gives this piece voice. Usually they identify the repetition of the word “the” followed by a specific item on a list of things from his life which the athlete has downloaded onto his laptop. Some bright student usually spots the absolutes doubled up in the second sentence. All the students agree that starting with “check out” is important. Now it’s time to imitate the structure by using something from the high school experience as the content. Here are some student examples:

Check out the Editor in Chief. That’s him emerging from the yearbook office commonly known as the bomb shelter, network cables held in one hand, proofs in the other. Those two items are symbols of his dedication. The frustration caused by a broken server and fallen network. The hours spent poring over proof after proof. The lost weekends spent fixing work from his staff that doesn’t care.

Check out that teacher. That’s him walking from the teachers’ lounge, cup of coffee in one hand, leather briefcase in the other. Inside that briefcase is the reason he teaches. The jumble of essays he grades—all on the same topic. The lesson plans for another three periods. The five papers that need to be photocopied. The grades waiting to be posted for 25 anxious teens.

Writing is the ultimate performance (well — perhaps just after golf), and excellence can come only from a culture of practice that emphasizes doing — and doing. The truth is, the real world doesn’t value what you know — only what you can do. If only I could show up at the golf course this weekend with my buddies, show the starter all I know about the golf swing, and record the lowest score before we play. But — as it turns out — I’m fighting a wicked hook at the moment. And in the real world, if I want to shoot the lowest score this weekend, I know where I’ll be this evening. The driving range. Maybe if I open my stance just a little…

Contributed by:
Dan Austin, yearbook adviser
Casa Roble High School, CA

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Commonly Misspelled Words

This is a list of words that are commonly misspelled. Post this list in your yearbook room so your copy editors can make sure these words are spelled correctly.

Contributed by:
Jane Roehrig & Heidi Ash
Herff Jones Sales Professionals, CA

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