There are many exciting electives offered here at Fauquier High School (FHS) but one that has been a favorite among students is the yearbook class. The yearbook class, taught by Austin Siebel, requires a prerequisite of photojournalism one and then in photojournalism two through four students create the yearbook.
The class offers a lot of freedom allowing students to create the pages for the academics and activities that they are interested in. “We like for kids to pick the things they enjoy. The student life pages are always really popular because they’re fun and they’re about their friends, but everybody has to do at least a couple of things they don’t like,” Siebel commented.
Making the yearbook requires a lot of work. The students are mainly in charge of creating the yearbook with Siebel as the advisor. “We plan it, designing templates, doing interviews, taking pictures or making pages,” senior and editor of the yearbook McKenna Cupka stated. Junior Reese Crider, a student in the class, added, “In the yearbook [class] we all get assigned a page and then we have to go find people to interview about that specific page.” This year the class used a new website to make the yearbook, as junior Brian Bland explains, “We make it on Wallsworth [platform], and then [Cupka] comes up with a lot of templates.” Cupka then continues, “So in there, it’s everything you need to design. We had to choose a theme [and] design templates that coincided with that. And then there’s a lot of administrative stuff you have to do with organizing it like deciding what pages you want to put in [and] that type of thing.”
The students in the yearbook class love it and would widely recommend this class to other students. “I would recommend this class because it’s very chill but it’s hard work but it’s good work. I think it’s good preparation for meeting deadlines and… talking to others and especially interviewing people,” said Crider. Cupka added on, saying, “I would [recommend this class]. I really like it. Everyone has to have sequential electives and anytime I talk to anyone younger I always recommend taking yearbook [class] because it’s really fun.” Cupka continues saying, “You have a lot of creative freedom which I really like… You get to interview your friends and meet new people through being in the yearbook.”
While creating the yearbook is a fun responsibility, it takes a certain type of student to put in the work and make it all happen. “[It takes] someone who likes people, who doesn’t mind talking to strangers. Someone who has kind of a thick skin and can think on their feet in the moment,” commented Siebel. These students then work all year long to create the yearbook that we know and love. “We work on it all year. From the first day and even over the summer we work on planning it,” Cupka said. She continues, saying, “Then once we submit it, usually at the end of March, it takes about a month for the production company to create it and then send it to us. And then we have to organize distribution.”
The yearbook takes a lot of hardworking, dedicated students to make. These students use teamwork and passion to give FHS an amazing yearbook. FHS has had amazing yearbooks for years and will continue to do so with the amazing team of students working to create the yearbook that everyone loves.
