Students love receiving the yearbook at the end of the year, looking through it, and searching for the activities in which they were involved.
What many do not realize is all the work that goes into it; a classroom full of students worked hard all year to make that piece of art that summarizes the whole school year.
The adviser for the Publications elective, Mr. Mathisen, has been at Providence since 2014. His expectations for the class are to simply work hard and meet the deadlines for their spreads; spreads are the pages in the yearbook. Each student is responsible for a number of spreads on different activities, such as basketball, quiz bowl or upper school art. Being a part of the yearbook staff also requires taking pictures at school events like sporting events or school plays.
Each student has a role such as section editor, photographer, or editor in chief. The class learns to work together to complete the yearbook.
An ordinary spread goes through the following process:
- make an outline of the spread on in-design
- take pictures of the event
- interview people involved in the activity
- put the pictures in the spread and add captions
- then write a story summarizing the activity.
The making of a spread is a team effort, so they can always count on a helping hand.
Publications is more challenging this year than any other because the class only contains 12 students, and 9 of those are seniors. Still it is expected that they complete the same size yearbook of the past years.
For many students, the class is not what they expect. Senior Colton Murphy, a copy editor, says, “I took this class because it is my senior year so I wanted a GPA booster, but this class turned out to be a GPA killer.”
Although the class may appear to be more work than expected it can be entertaining because of Mr. Mathisen.
“The class is always very lively and a fun environment to be in,” says Senior Melanie Ivens .
Despite the hard work that is required, the students learn a variety of life skills such as how to work computer programs like Photoshop and In-Design that could help them later on in life.
“I love this class because it is very cool to take pictures and I have made friendships that I believe will last a long time,” says lead Photographer Rajan Moothedan ’17.
The yearbook may seem at first to be a difficult class, but in reality the students enjoy the class, learning the new skills and making lifelong friends.
good article and analysis leah!
leah wrote an informative article that was a good read all the way to the very end.