The sounds of clicking keyboards, the non stop printing of sample pages, the artistic ideas flying through the air in room 1237: this is the mecca of Tompkins yearbook. Twenty students are hard at work perfecting the Tompkins Talon’s 5th yearbook. Sophomore Alyssa Thierheimer and seniors Beth Pacious and Ashton Templeton are just a few of the staff members of the Talon. These students understand the immense work and dedication that goes into producing a memorable yearbook every year.
“We work really hard on this all year long so that 20 years from now when you pull it out of your closet, you’re going to appreciate all that it holds. I will miss getting to work with some great people everyday and being able to record our school’s history,” said Pacious.
The yearbook staff is comprised of three grade levels: tenth, eleventh and twelfth. Templeton would like underclassmen to know how great of an organization the Talon is. It is a place to make friends, go on amazing class trips and create an important and loved aspect of the school year. Like any organization or sport, there is an internal ranking based on experience. Sophomores, juniors and seniors all have different responsibilities on the yearbook staff.
“Sophomores have less pages to do while seniors have to edit every single page and still do their own pages as well,” said Thierheimer.
The Talon’s cover this year is navy with glittering gold letters spelling out the theme, Flourish; highlighting growing and prosperity. The inside features metallic ink and showcases the spreads created by members of the Talon staff. Tompkins ordered 1300 yearbooks and will pass them out in the second week of May.
“The most challenging thing is getting the work of 20 people, putting it together and making one cohesive book,” said Templeton.
The editors of the Talon made a trip to Dallas to see how and where the yearbooks are made. They got to make final corrections to the design, correct their layouts and make sure that it was ready. The process of making a yearbook is quite long and requires a lot of people. First, the staff must come up with ideas that allows them create rough spreads. Then the rough spreads are edited and returned to each staff member to create a final spread. Then there is another round of editing. Next is proofs, where the editors see what the spreads look like when printed. After that is more editing, and if necessary, a second proof and a last edit on that.
“Yearbook has been one of the best experiences of my life. When we hand out books and I see everyone carrying them around and smiling at our work, there is no better feeling,” said Templeton.
