LISTEN UP
We made a podcast. Let’s talk yearbook.
Roving reporters and YBKhq content creators Hayley Behal and Nelson Helm join creative director Steve Kent for conversations with members of our international scholastic journalism network.
From advisers to consultants, you’ll hear from the best in the business.
Catch up on the interviews you may have missed.
LIFE LESSONS WITH LAURA ZHU, CJE
Laura Zhu, adviser at Toby Johnson Middle School, is here for you. To make you feel you just met your new best friend. To tell you nobody knows what they’re doing when they make their first yearbook. To remind you of the power of captions.
“As soon as I stepped back and said, ‘I don’t need to be the person who knows more than them. I need to give them the tools to find the answers themselves,’ I flipped the classroom before it was kind of a thing.”
CULTIVATING COMMUNITY WITH CARRIE FAUST, MJE
Carrie Faust of Smoky Hill High School exudes star power, which she found in her own yearbook days. Does your staff look like your school? Do you know how to recruit new members? Do you know how to train those new members? Faust has you covered.
“Yearbook is about being intentional, about intentionally choosing a theme, and a design, and an organizational method that can include as many people as possible. And to be intentional about who those people are.”
DON’T FREAK OUT WITH KARA PETERSEN, CJE
The KP didn’t become so by being anything less than extraordinary. She is a rep in Northern Virginia and with her, you’ll find your theme. Then laugh your way to better coverage. And, maybe a better way to yearbook.
“When we broaden theme to be just a way to tell the story of the year, then we focus on individual voices or small groups inside this huge school and how we build community.”
MORE THAN A PIONEER WITH MITCH ZIEGLER, CJE
If you’ve seen a Redondo book, you’ve wondered how they take those photos, how they cover those topics, how they continue to stand apart from the crowd. We talked to adviser Mitch Ziegler and it came into focus.
“We just spend time talking about photos. The kids would start showing up in my classroom at 7 a.m. to sit down and show me their shots. We kept talking about it. We learned from conversation and dialogue where people just start talking about what seems to work and what doesn’t.”
IT’S A YEARBOOK THANG WITH JUSTIN, CJE & CARRIE, CJE
Colorado advisers Justin Daigle and Carrie Hendrix need no introduction. They’ll probably introduce themselves. Or each other. Yearbook is meant to be fun. And they know it. Here’s how you meet your yearbook bestie.
“Students come into yearbook not knowing how much this is going to change their lives and find their why. Their passion behind things. They didn’t know they could be a leader, and all they can accomplish — that’s been the coolest part of all this.”
THE STATE OF THE MEDIA WITH BRENDA GORSUCH, MJE
She’s about as talented at publications as one person can be. Brenda Gorsuch, West Henderson’s recently retired adviser, knows how to teach writing. She knows how to teach interviews. She knows how to be interviewed. And she’ll fight for student press rights through it all.
“I want the curiosity where you can sit down and really connect with another person and ask questions. I tried to teach that by having them take random students and go find an angle, and interview that student.”
LIVING YOUR BEST LIFE WITH ERINN HARRIS, MJE
Erinn Harris has loved yearbook forever. She even loves yearbook when it takes over her free time. And when her staff is brand new and she has to start over. Did we mention, she’s a teacher because she wanted to teach yearbook?
“My expectations are directly related to my students’ expectations for themselves. Which is why I think setting goals at the beginning of the year is important, so I know what kind of adviser I need to be.”
WHERE ARE WE?
Find us on the Apple Podcast app, the Google Play Store, SoundCloud, online here. Subscribe and we’ll automatically download to your smartphone.
WHAT’S NEXT?
We talk with YBKhq curriculum manager Betsy Brittingham as well as content creators to further explore How to Yearbook. We chat with Beth Ward, adviser at Mauldin High School, and her rep Devon Swale, CJE, about adviser-rep relationships. And we sit down with Pat Hinman, adviser at Robinson Secondary, about her yearbook path.
WHY A PODCAST?
When you’ve had enough of reading and writing and teaching and talking, turn to us. We’ll help you get through tough spots, we’ll help you motivate yourself and your staff, and we’ll teach you a few tricks to yearbook the HJ way. Put in some headphones and you’ll never yearbook alone.
