With Proclamation 5703, former President Ronald Reagan made yearbooks even more celebration-worthy by setting apart the first week of October for “appropriate ceremonies and activities” to recognize the creators and the power of a yearbook program. Nearly 30 years later, National School Yearbook Week remains a time to reminisce and a time to look forward.
Monday: Celebrate the Heroes
For two weeks, we at Treering have been collecting stories of advisers, grandparents, parents, students, and school staff who make their yearbook successful. From collaborative efforts on original cover designs to timely communication on ever-changing school events, the positive contributions of many are making yearbooks happen.
Treering will announce the winners of the #YearbookHero contest. Schools can celebrate their own heroes by:
- Making banners to post on teacher’s doors to say thank you
- Sharing on social media photos yearbook heroes have shared with your team or a photo of a yearbook hero with a description of why he or she saved the day
- Hosting a pizza luncheon for your yearbook team, because pizza and yearbook are a clutch combo (Was that too cheesy?)
- Decorating your yearbook students’ lockers
Tuesday: Celebrate the Product
Just like VH-1’s Behind the Music series, you can do a Behind the Yearbook and showcase the story behind previous years’ themes or a yearbook staff member’s journey. Other fun ways to show off the importance of yearbook on social media include:
- School staff show off their old yearbooks photos
- Highlight important events such as State Championships or famous alumni in previous yearbooks
- Record a teacher or student reading encouraging messages from his/her yearbook
If you haven’t yet branded your book, National School Yearbook Week is the ideal time to do a theme reveal! Some schools make a video to share, others reveal just a theme element or two to tease buyers.
Wednesday: Celebrate Growth
Mid-National School Yearbook Week, yearbook lovers will unite. For the first time (in forever) Treering is inviting yearbook coordinators and advisers to gather for an epic evening at Treering Live! In addition to breakout sessions for Elementary and middle/high schools, attendees will glean practical ideas on how to
- Sell more yearbooks
- Create an epic yearbook theme
- Overcome common objections
- Take newsworthy photos… on a cellphone
Follow #TRL2021 for Tweetable takeaways your fellow yearbook advisers shared, and work with your team to apply a few this year. We always say, try one or two new things (Treering loves yearbook advisers too much to let you try and do it all!)
Thursday: Build on the Momentum
Now that a few days were filled with celebration, take some time to use National School Yearbook Week to propel your team. Collectively, identify what is going well and why. Check your progress towards your goals for the year and ask:
- What is working?
- What needs improvement? How can our strengths help in this area?
- Do we need to refine any goals?
- How will we celebrate reaching our goals?
Schools that see success with goal-setting and achievement monitor progress and also make their goals attainable. Instead of sell more books, try something like if we increase our yearbook sales by the end of December, we will have an ice cream party when we return to school in January.
Fri-yay: #feelgoodFriday
You celebrated. You learned. You strategized. As you prep for some #weekendvibes, take one more opportunity to build unity among your team. Whether your YB teamis made up of students in an after school club or for class credit, or your shepherd a super squad of parents, create a feel-good moment to close out National School Yearbook Week.
With students, a chain of strength is a way for students to self-assess their team contribution. After a brief period of individual work, the group discussion is where the magic happens: students encourage and build up one another. (Pro tip: get paper in your yearbook theme colors to make your team’s chain.)
Parents too need edification. A quick trip to Dollar Tree for some fun thank yous will go a long way: incense for the wise moms, a skein of yarn for the dad who holds it all together, or a trivia book for the parent who is a lifelong learner. Focusing on the strengths of each team member, and celebrating their individual contributions, created a culture of support. This is key for collaboration.
