YEARBOOK THEME: “THE ROARING TWENTIES”

By: Izabella Hotz and Destiny Cannon

February 20, 2020

This year, the yearbook will be created by a class for the first time ever. Led by Mrs. Jacinta Bader, Mrs. Joanne Becker, and the students, they are putting together the yearbook by taking photos, advertising, and deciding on layouts. 

This class seems to be starting the trend of student-led classes being introduced to BHS, along with the journalism class. Both classes enable students to become independent and responsible for their own work as well as to help them develop teamwork skills.

The students are also developing skills in marketing, selling, and advertising, as they need to incorporate all three to get the yearbook to sell. 

The goal of the class, according to Principal Bill Wingler, is ”to create a yearbook that’s student-led and student-edited so that it truly represents what the students believe should be in the yearbook”. 

He also wants the yearbook to be “giving a good picture of what’s going on at the high school”.

Wingler told us that his inspiration behind these classes are based upon his high school experience, saying:  “I’m not a good ‘sit-and-listen’ person. I don’t like lecture-based instruction. I feel like a good percentage of students aren’t engaged in the classrooms. So, next year, we are adding seven-to-nine new classes with the same idea [student-led, active].”

So far, the yearbook class has been photographing most events and outings involving the high school, such as sporting events, the International Festival, etc. 

The class has been working extremely hard to put the yearbook together, but the biggest factor is the price. Right now, the yearbook’s pricing was driven down significantly through their use of advertising, which required students to contact local businesses about advertising opportunities.

Bader said that “ …it took us [the class] a while to figure out the programming, but now, it is all getting put in place. It is awesome; we are using the theme of ‘The Roaring Twenties,’ and everything is really coming together.”

The class, while simple in theory, occupies a lot of time between design, unity, theming, and advertisements. There are a few newer features this year, such as senior quotes and advertisements created for local businesses. 

The length of the yearbook will also be much different, and Bader mentioned that it will be 168 pages long, which is up from around 70 pages last year.

Overall, this class has been extremely productive and definitely student-led. At many other schools, the teachers and faculty make the phone calls and most of the big choices, but here at BHS, it is all about student decisions. 

The yearbook will be available for $43 through April 16, $48 from April 17-May 25, and then $59 from May 26-June 3.

If you have any questions or would like to purchase a yearbook, please contact Mrs. Jacinta Bader at (216) 485-8100, ext. 8503.