I’m a yearbook geek.  Yep, I’m that girl.  I was the girl in high school who always carried a camera and a notebook, ready to capture a cheesy, staged photo and an equally dopey comment about teenage life.  It all started with the College Street Elementary Owl.  Then the Westwood Junior High School Rocket.  And then on to the big time with the Coffee County Central High School Raider.  

Want a good laugh?  Check out the intro I wrote for my senior yearbook, of which I was editor-in-chief.   (The yearbook’s theme was “The Question Is …” and each section – Student Life, Sports, Clubs, etc – had a question as the title of the section.  Clever, huh?)  It’s funny how my writing style really hasn’t changed too much through the years:

WHAT’S THE QUESTION?  As teenagers we often find our days filled with an unfair share of confusion.  Although we’re sometimes faced with important life-altering decisions, most of the time our toughest choices seem to consist of what to wear or who to date.  But after a long week of demanding classes, many of us just wonder WHAT’S HAPPENING.  Whether the events of the night hold the prospects of an exciting party or just a relaxing evening with good friends, everyone wants to know WHO’S THERE.  And as if teachers don’t manage to keep our developing minds busy enough, a huge variety of extracurricular activities easily book our calendars.  From the action-packed sports that keep us asking WHAT’S THE SCORE to the foot-tapping music that puts smiles on our faces, Central High School offers something to suit the needs of everyone.  In addition, all of our involved school clubs and organizations are constantly on the go, and we are often asked WHEN DO WE MEET.  Through it all, despite or years of experience as teenagers and professional high school students, we’ll continue to be plagued with thousands of unanswered riddles.  And so THE QUESTION IS  . . .

Was that geeky enough for you? ;-) 

After high school, it was on to the big time with the Vanderbilt University Commodore.  Freshman year, I joined the staff as a writer and an Assistant Student Life Editor.  Personally, I always felt Student Life was the best section with which to be involved.  Athletics, Academics, Organizations?  Bah.  Student Life was cool because it was the human interest section.  In Student Life, you really get to define the year and feeling on campus.  You archive the true essence of the student body. 

Sophomore year, I got promoted to head Student Life Editor as well as the book’s Managing Editor, which put me on-deck for the big cheese job the next year.  Being the Student Life Editor was awesome.  I could pick and choose the stories I personally wanted to cover as a staff writer but still have editorial control over the entire section … which, when you’re dealing with an award winning book like the Commodore, meant 200+ pages of features stories.

As it turns out though, I left the Commodore mid-way through my sophomore year.  I’m all about multi-tasking, but I have to admit I had a hard time juggling the overseeing of the book’s largest section AND business aspects while trying to maintain a decent GPA.  I decided school work and internships were probably more important, and I still think I was right.  So, it was good-bye yearbook staff; hello the rest of my life.

I’m writing about my yearbook geek experiences because I recently realized I’ve come full circle in my career.  Zoe and I talk a lot about employment branding and specifically how companies can use “new media” – blogs, video, audio and the such – to help this brand come to life.  There’s only so much a slick brochure and static website can do to convey the true essence of a company.  But through blogs and the use of other easy multimedia stories, you can basically create … um… your own corporate yearbook!  You and your employees tell the story of your corporate culture. 

If only blog readers would leave comments like, "It was great getting to know you in 2nd period.  You are a sweet girl.  Have a fun summer!"  ;-) 

Go yearbook staff!

gretchen