writing
To the right is the theme explainer that was featured in The Bird's Eye, 2017. The theme was "Momentum" and, as conveyed by the heavy emphasis on the word MOMENT, the book followed the central motifs of time progression and moments of stillness as high school flies by, but allows certain aspects to be captured like photographs and stories. For both the 2017 and the upcoming 2018 publication, I have written the theme explainers with intentions of captivating the audience from one of the very first pages. The photo above depicts our theme explainer for the upcoming yearbook with the theme "Beneath the Surface." I wrote this theme explainer with great depth with intent on emphasizing deeper stories and emotion portrayed through visual elements and the words of the students themselves. The theme explainers, our staff believes, are central reference of sorts. If, at any point, a staffer somehow deviates from the theme we are vying to convey, the theme explainer is always a home base. We look at it like glue.
Our staff has always been instructed by our adviser to find deep stories--tear jerkers if they can be. He has always placed emphasis on making revelations. The story above features two sisters who have come to Fivay High School after being adopted by local foster parents who care for them in a way that they had never imagined was possible. I wrote this story focusing on both a chronology of events with in-depth analysis of major shifts in the lives of the sisters. In addition, I concentrated on conveying the bond that the sisters share having almost experienced separation from one another and adjusting to their new lives with sisterly dependence. The spread itself captures the sibling bonds that are shared both on and off school campus.
news gathering
One of the most prevalent focuses of both the newspaper and yearbook staffs is student coverage. As Editor in Chief, I am persistently asserting that the staff must cover students who do not often get recognition, for it is integral to both sales and ethics themselves that our book promotes inclusion. In the story above, I selected three freshmen who had not been featured in the book at all, other than their portrait. I was surprised to find that the freshman class was so vivacious and lively. While the story covers homecoming week and freshmen participation, I implicitly conveyed the proverbial divide between freshmen and the rest of the school population as they are often blind sighted or anxious about participating in events with the notion that they will not be as celebratory as the upperclassmen. Nonetheless, this story is one that I often reference when advising staff members to find the students who are not often covered. Staff members are often surprised when they find that there really is a story everywhere, and they must find it. As a staff, we strive to balance coverage amongst grade level, gender, ethnicity, organizations, etc. Variety and coverage as well as inclusion are amongst our top priorities.
The spreads above were published in the 2017 yearbook titled "Momentum." Each of these stories drew from triumph and humility as well as well as team-bonding and dependence on one another.
Left spread: All-Florida in Sports Action Photography, 2017 Spring Digital Contests, Florida Scholastic Press Association
In the beginning of each school year, I sit down with the new staff members (plus those who are returning and just wanted to sharpen their writing skills) and instruct them about the importance of anecdotal leads in addition to AP style and the art of writing captions. As the Editor in Chief with the delegated responsibility of editing copy, I stress to staff members how important the stories are to our yearbook publication and to the members of the newspaper sports' section, how stories can bring an athletic event to life. While photographs and layout are crucial to the visual intrigue of our publications, the stories are what brings a page or a spread to life. Without writing, our book is not as personal and therefore does not exemplify the uniqueness of our school. Writers are often reminded that this is our opportunity to tell stories. We have a chance to truly capture the history of the school year and preserve it for the future. While we tell stories through photos and design, stories are most clearly conveyed through words themselves. People feel when they read. They experience these moments all over again.
yearbook
The route by which the yearbook staff gathers information is relatively simple: brainstorm, interview, write. Newspaper is much more complex in the approach that is taken for news gathering. Our adviser delegates one class period a month to "throwing ideas on the board," in which the staffers and editors are encouraged to talk about trending topics, controversial news, etc. In doing so, after an idea is "thrown on the board," the staffers and editors must research the topics and gather unbiased, accurate information. In addition, staffers and editors continue their research beyond the computer and classroom by interviewing students on campus about said topics.
As sports' editor for The Talon newspaper, I am primarily responsible for brainstorming ideas that are relevant to respective athletic seasons and to our student population (i.e. athletes of the month, state-bound athletes, etc). I had pitched an idea to the staffers in my section and to the rest of the class that some deemed newsworthy and a "great" story while others anticipated it would result in an uproar from coaching staff and administration. My idea was to write a story on how our football team is enduring a rough season and the primary complaint from the athletes themselves was the instruction of the coaching staff. While my adviser said it may be risky and taken as offensive, I was encouraged by fellow staffers to collected some interviews anyways. I interviewed the quarterback (who had mentioned quitting the team on several occasions because he did not like the coaches) as well as a couple offensive linemen and a wide receiver. Each of the athletes gave me nothing but complaints which, as my adviser had anticipated, would make for a great story but an ugly fallout. Unfortunately, the story was not published, but the proposal in and of itself had exemplified two things for staffers and editors alike: the legitimacy of the sources and news gathering is pertinent to writing a truly good story (the story, had it been fully written and published, would have shown that my sources were of those who had firsthand experience and were passionate about their statements) in addition to the idea that our publication is one that covers topics both relevant and intriguing to the student population.