Teamwork is everything for student publications when it comes to building a student-driven culture.
Kai Lincke
Cross-posted at Haven Yearbook
When I left the media lab on graduation day, I thought I was done with the yearbook. Though I knew that the underclassman staff would do an amazing job finishing the book, it was still incredibly hard for me to leave our “banana squad.” (Inside joke.)
When we checked in after senior week, Ms. Plows explained that the staff had worked as hard as they could to make our proposed deadline, but the yearbook still wasn’t finished.
After some persuasion, she agreed to let seniors come back to help finish the yearbook.
I have never been so excited to walk into the media lab. I was elated to be back with the team, and to watch our new editors-in-chief lead us to the finish. The banana torch had been passed—this was their yearbook now, and I felt so lucky to come back and work with them.
TUESDAY
When we arrived on Tuesday morning, we were determined and excited to finish the project. We hoped to submit the yearbook at 1:00, so we dove in and started working.
One of our most pressing tasks was finishing copy. We hoped to include copy and captions for every page, but there were still several copies that needed to be written or finished. We all pitched in to contact friends and acquaintances who could provide information and quotes for the stories. At one point, we had two or three interviews going on for different copies at the same time. It was AWESOME. After we finished the interviews, the room was silent except for the sounds of rapid typing and clicking.
We were so zoned in that we didn’t notice the hours passing. The day passed in a blur of Swedish fish (#fuel), banana stress foam, and jumping jacks (“guys, it helps wake the brain up!”). Everyone worked for hours straight with no complaints—which says a lot for Gen Z teenagers, who have an infamously short attention span.
We could see the finish in the distance, but just couldn’t make it to the end. Every time we thought we were getting close, we found another spread that needed to be filled or a page that was missing elements.
Eventually, we realized the yearbook wouldn’t be ready to send off at 1:00.
A few hours later, we still weren’t comfortable with the state of the yearbook. The book needed to be submitted ASAP, but we decided it was worth taking another day to take our time and complete everything thoroughly.
WEDNESDAY
When we returned on Wednesday morning, we knew we had to send off the yearbook. We invited staff to come in to help finish the book and send it off at 1:00. Throughout the day, many staff members floated in and out, helping design pages, collect interviews, write copy, tag people, select photos, develop new spreads, proof pages, and encourage other staff members. Several times, I stopped working and looked around the room in awe.
It was hard to believe that we are an extracurricular club composed of 14-18-year-olds. Our staff worked together effortlessly. It was like we had our own language that only yearbookers would understand: “Guys, I think we just made it to 40% tagged,” “Shoot! The copy is 450. I don’t think it’ll fit,” “Did you put the twos on all the pages? I think I’m missing the fish on prom.”
Our team carried on when we were all physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted. Driven by candy and passion for storytelling, we moved through each task with incredible efficiency. We took breaks for dance parties and Taylor Swift singalongs (good for morale and for clearing brain fog), but most of the time, we were focused. We were determined to finish this yearbook.
I think everyone could feel the urgency of completing this project. We were exhausted and ready to be done. We could have easily rushed to finish and submit what we had, but we knew we were documenting history. The 2021-22 school year is an incredible story, and we wanted to tell it right.
At 6:30, long after our goal sendoff time, we were starting to lose energy. Our staff numbers had dwindled, leaving just a few of us slumped in our seats and staring blankly at our computers when the night custodian arrived. He kindly told us that we needed to leave the building by 7:45—which left little more than an hour to finish everything.
That was the push we needed to get back on track. We thought it was grind time before, but this was true grind time. We moved faster than ever to churn out pages and finish details.
In that last hour, we developed two of my favorite spreads in the yearbook. We dedicated two pages in the senior section to things that we regained this year—time in the classroom, athletics, performances, and senior events. Though these circumstances still weren’t “normal”, they gave us opportunities to reimagine connection with our community.
Working on these pages was stressful (it came down to the wire), but it helped to renew my gratitude for the experiences we regained and develop new appreciation for my class’s incredible story. It felt rushed, but I think it was really cool that our team created meaningful content in such a limited time.
As the time winded down, we took turns clicking “submit” on each page (yes, all 240 pages have to be individually submitted). After I finished my pages, the incoming EICs let me turn in the last set of pages. I was so tired that I don’t think I was processing what we were doing. With each page we submitted, we sent off a piece of work that was a year in the making.
With “22” by Taylor Swift blaring, staff members made the final edits as I clicked turn-in on each page. We all paused before the last page. I took a deep breath, waited for the beat to drop, and pressed submit.
But when we submitted, the legendary Jostens fireworks (which are supposed to pop out as soon as the yearbook is turned in) weren’t there.
Nervous that something went wrong, I clicked around the website until finally, a big “CONGRATULATIONS!” banner popped up on the screen with rainbow confetti erupting around it. We jumped up and down and gathered for a big group hug. In that moment, a wave of emotions washed over me: relief, exhilaration, sadness, pride, and exhaustion. I couldn’t believe that we finally turned in our year-long project. It was surreal.
Our 2022 yearbook cover as it was submitted. This involved several weeks of collecting and arranging objects, and a photo shoot from atop a 16-foot ladder.
REFLECTION
When I look back now, I am so proud of the product we submitted. I love looking through the yearbook because I know the story on each page, and the story behind it: the process it took to transition from a concept on our coverage list to a colorful spread with copy, captions, and photos. Some pages have dozens of contributors. These are my favorite pages because I can picture all of the hands that touched them, and recall the hours that we spent together trying to build the story.
Though I’ve also found some mistakes, I know that we poured our hearts and souls into this project. I think that our staff did an amazing job considering that the entire yearbook is created outside of curriculum-based class time; this yearbook was made during independent studies, lunch, fifth block, and after school. We gave this project everything we had in the time that we had.
What impressed me the most about submission week was that people came back. Our staff members took time out of their summer vacation to come into an empty school building and work. There’s nothing—no grade or compensation—that compels students to come to our yearbook club, in the school year, and most certainly during the summer. Our staff came back because they knew they were part of a project bigger than themselves. They are part of a community, a family, a team working to tell the story of this unprecedented year.
Our yearbook family cheered our teammates on all year and kept each other going during the race to the finish. Though I missed a week of work sessions after graduation, I can envision the team sharing candy and encouragement as they powered through pages. During our two ten-hour-plus work days, we kept each other going by taking dance breaks, blowing bubbles and sharing snacks. Just being together was encouraging. It’s a really cool feeling to know that other people are working towards the same goal, sharing the same passion, and putting in the same hours that you are. We kept showing up, for the publication and for each other, and gave each other a reason to keep working. We built this team in just one year, and now I can’t imagine life at our school without it.
At the end of the process, so many students can look at our yearbook and identify their work. Students were involved at every stage, from the planning and layout to the photos and copy.
Our staff invested so much time and love into documenting this year and telling our school’s story. They gave me a reason to come to school, to work hard, and to carry on through the stress. Whenever I felt like stopping or giving up, I thought of my peers giving up their lunches, fifth blocks, and time at home to contribute to this project. I couldn’t be prouder of our work this year.
Now more than ever, this is a student-driven publication.
Kai Lincke was co-editor-in-chief of the Haven Yearbook for the 2021-2022 school year, as well as editor-in-chief of the school newspaper. She is headed to Ithaca College to study journalism as a member of the class of 2026.
