In the past, yearbook has been offered as a class, but this year the program was changed into a club. The reason for this change was a lack of students signing up for the class. Emily Kalis, Assistant Dean of Admissions and Yearbook faculty advisor, said that “last year we had five awesome students in the Yearbook class. Over the summer, when we asked for the class roster, we had no one sign up because it did not fit into their schedules.”

      Even when there was a lack of students, a yearbook still needed to be done. To tackle this issue, Kalis and David Atas, Head Athletic Trainer and Yearbook faculty advisor, talked to Chris Tennyson, Dean of Students and Academic Affairs, to figure out a solution. They came up with a solution to make yearbook a club and independent study instead of a class. Kalis also commented that the solution they came up with is great because “it’s not stressing the students out as much, they are still getting credit, and we have a yearbook at the end of the day.”

   When asked about whether or not students would still get credit if they signed up for the yearbook club, Atas says that “credit only counts when you are doing the independent study.” Unless choosing to take Yearbook as an independent study, students would not get credit for it and would only be put as participants in making the yearbook if they are in the club.

    The new yearbook club has been seen as a positive change. When asked about how they feel about the changes, Kalis mentioned that “students who were considering doing the class last year now have the opportunity to do it—especially seniors.” The changes bring in more new students, thus also helping with the workload. Jason Koenig, Fine & Performing Arts Department Chair, commented that “making it a club made more sense, there is more time in the cycle for clubs to meet. There’s more opportunity for students to get involved.”

   Moreover, having the yearbook class turn into a club and independent study allows students to take it as something fun rather than having to fill up credit. Not only that, the yearbook-making process itself is a student-led thing. Koenig pointed out that even with the change from a class to a club, it would not make a difference because “so far we have ten students who really want to make a great yearbook, just like any other club, these students will make it happen.”