From the outside, Student Media may look like it is just taking pictures, but there is much more to it than that. Yearbook does many things like choosing a theme for the yearbook, designing pages, and writing articles not only to document the year, but for our online school newspaper, as well.

However, Student Media has just as much fun as they do working with special events, such as the Yearbook Wedding, Ad Sales Day, and the monthly Work Nights.

At the beginning of the year, it is all about getting the newbies introduced to how a journalism classroom runs, from the way photos should be taken, how to write features, or how to design their own pages. There are many things done to prepare the new staff for publishing the yearbook and newspaper, like the Photo Challenge where they practice taking pictures, the article they all wrote together to teach them how to write as a journalist, and the study of digital design.

“Being the editor, and having a year of experience has significantly helped me to enhance my skills so that I could teach the new staff,” said Hannah Zomak (11).

As the year progressed the staff worked on completing the seven sections of the yearbook in four deadlines. They were able to meet each deadline on time as they had planned. The sections range from the People section, to Student Life, to Ads. They are all different, but they each take a lot of work for the staff to complete.

“The biggest challenge I had would have been with the Academics sections and that’s because I had PLTW/AG/Business/Tech Ed.” said Madi Dorsey (11). “That is a spread that has four departments on it and it was hard to fit all four departments on two pages.”

Even though there was a lot of work to be done, the staff also made time to participate in activities together. They participated in the Ag Olympics together, went to a PJ night at the movies, and even went out to eat at Burger King.

Student Media is period 7/8 in the school day, so the staff is able to work together and have some bonding time. One period of the day is not enough, so once a month they have Work Nights. when the staff gets together after school to work on the yearbook, have a meal, and also enjoy one another’s company.

Work Nights are full of laughter and many inside jokes. To the yearbook staff, at these Work Nights is where they become more of a family. At the first work night, they had they Yearbook Wedding where each staff member vowed to be loyal to each other as well to the yearbook. Each Work Night has a different theme and everyone enjoys them.

“I really like talking with everybody and it is a great way to work and socialize,” said Rachel Kimmel (12).

As the year is coming to an end, many classes are finishing up their work for the year, but Student Media is already getting prepared for the next year. Currently, the staff is working on the Theme Project, where they design the theme for next year’s yearbook and try to “sell” their theme to admin in the district.

The staff is divided into three teams with three different designs, and they create and sell a theme package that they present. The class then votes along with the judges on the Best theme for the upcoming school year. The three themes they are choosing from are “Once Upon a Year”, “Let’s Rewind”, and “Day in, Day out”.

“Our theme we are working on is all about the work students and staff put in day in and day out,” said Emma Gipe (11) “Every day everyone put in hours of hard work along with balancing their outside life.”

As well as doing work for next year, the staff is also looking for students to join Student Media. There will be a meeting held on April 19 in room 220 activity period for anyone who is interested. If you are unable to attend the meeting, come down to Ms.Reeder’s room and get the information. The JB Student Media Staff is excited for you to become a part of their family and are looking forward to seeing you at the meeting.