Many students join a journalism class to explore the world of writing, designing, and interviewing. While many students take 21st Century Journalism and go on to choose Yearbook or Newspaper, junior Miranda Henry decided to take both.
“When I took journalism class sophomore year, I really liked it. I could just see myself doing it,” Henry said. “Most of my friends are in Yearbook and not as many people were in Newspaper, so I was like ‘might as well join both.’”
Being a part of the journalism program provides a plethora of benefits for Henry, as those skills easily apply to things outside of those classes as well.
“You definitely learn a lot about how to write essays,” she said. “It’s helped me a lot because I know proper grammar and how to cite things and use quotations and whatnot.”
However, it’s difficult to get work done with so many friends in her class.
“I feel like for most people, the hardest part is doing your work. A lot of people see it as a free class period,” she said. “I usually get my work done in time, but some people don’t because most people have most of their friends in Yearbook and Newspaper, so they just yap for the whole time.”
Henry’s productiveness also stems from the enjoyable creative process Yearbook and Newspaper bring.
“Yearbook is very student-based. We do lot of stories of students who aren’t really in the yearbook as much or, [for example,] someone who did something interesting in the summer besides summer camps,” Henry said. “You write about that and then make a lot of graphics that are pleasing to the eye. Newspaper is still student-based, but has more opinions and facts.”
After finalizing the yearbook for the school year, a day for distributing the yearbook is sent. While the seniors get theirs as they enjoy the games at Main Event, the underclassmen receive them at the school at the end of the school day.
“First, we get to school, and usually [the Yearbook sponsor] Huss provides us with bagels from Panera. After we load up the vans and drive to Main Event, we set up there and wait for the seniors to arrive,” she said. “Right after we hand them out to the seniors, we go back to school and we get Chick-fil-A for lunch. Usually, the yearbooks are set up [at school] for distribution, so it’s a simpler process.”
While setting up the yearbooks is different at Main Event and the school, the act of actually distributing is the same at both.
“When we give out the yearbook, it’s a whole process. Some of us hand out the yearbooks and then others receive cards with people’s names to write down that they got the yearbook,” she said.
Though distribution day is full of chaos and busyness, it’s worth it for Henry because of the reactions.
“It’s a jam-packed day because it goes from back to back without getting breaks in between,” she said. “[But] my favorite part is seeing people’s reactions to the yearbook because nobody knows what it looks like. When people say it looks really good, it makes everyone feel good because we’ve worked so hard on it all year.”
