I’m always running around the school—getting quotes, taking pictures, or making funny TikToks for our social media pages. No matter what I’m doing, I’m constantly looking for things to cover. I even find myself picturing a yearbook spread about my AP Stats class as I sit there calculating the standard deviation of a sample size.
On the rare occasion I attend a football game as a fan rather than a photographer, I can’t help but yearn for my camera, to capture the players’ celebration just moments after a big play. No matter the topic, there are always new things happening at Westside and it is always my goal to cover them.
REPORTING
finding COVERAGE IDEAS
We keep an ongoing list of story and coverage ideas in two places in the journalism room. Shield and Wired/Lance each have their own whiteboards with information relevant to their respective publications, but students are welcome to reference either for brainstorming ideas.
To stay up to date on what’s happening around our school, we track the activities calendar, district social media posts, and school announcements. We also jot down trending topics in pop culture, current events, or anything related to Westside students and staff that could make for great stories.
Shield Ladder, Coverage Ideas and general information
Lance (Newspaper) and Wired assignments and coverage ideas
NEED TO COVER - BY SEASON
We create a chronological yearbook, meaning we cover events as they happen rather than organizing them by section. That being said, before we begin working on the book, we compile a list of events we know are guaranteed coverage. These are traditions that happen every year and are important to Westside’s culture.
To ensure we cover each of these topics—whether it’s Homecoming Week or E-Sports—we make sure every student involved in something has a chance to be featured. This system also holds us accountable, preventing one sport or extracurricular from being covered significantly more than another.
We keep this list printed in our classroom and mark a tally each time a topic is covered in the book. Ideally, each topic receives one, maybe two, tallies—but never more. With limited pages to fill, we want to give every topic an equal opportunity to be featured.
CLUBS
Westside has over 50 clubs that meet at various times throughout the year. That being said, often times, some clubs fly under the radar and many other students do not know they exist. On our school's website, there is a list of all the clubs/organizations we have. Using that list, we created a checklist of all clubs we can cover in the book. Similar to our seasonal checklist, we make tallies next to clubs each time we cover them. We know it is nearly impossible to cover 50+ clubs in the book but we try our best to find a way to incorporate as many as possible. In doing so, we allow for a broader number of student's voices and passions to be spread.
While we try to cover as many clubs as possible throughout the entire book, we know it is hard to get all of them covered so we make an effort to get their picture in our club section of the book. We email each club sponsor and they are in charge of confirming they would like a photo, then we organize the times each club will come in and take their photo.
INTERVIEWS
As a yearbook staff member, I send interview emails daily. Below is the template I created for staff to use when reaching out to sources.
Sometimes, when we struggle to get someone in for an in-person interview, we have to rely on email instead. In that case, we send them our interview questions along with supplemental prompts to help spark ideas in their responses. If we plan to use their interview for quotes, we also include a photo to help jog their memory.
QUESTION PLANNING
I prefer to carefully plan and organize my questions before speaking with someone to ensure a meaningful and fulfilling conversation. For instance, I am currently working on a yearbook spread featuring two sisters in a band. Although we originally scheduled an in-person interview, an unexpected snow day led me to conduct the interview over email. I sent them a well-organized set of questions via email, including additional prompts to encourage thoughtful and detailed responses.
writing - Yearbook copy
While writing is not my main focus in the department, I still work on yearbook copy for captions, headlines, subheads and the occasional story. When creating spreads, I try and make the headlines as intriguing and fun as possible. For example, on the spread containing a story about a student and their service dog, Diamond, I brainstormed ideas until I found the perfect headline: A Diamond In The Ruff. I also try and make captions as descriptive and accurate as possible, as well as include long and well worded quotes from the subjects of the photos.
Before placing a story on a spread, I write my draft in a Google Doc. This allows for me to edit and revise before placing the final product. Once the stories are written, they are placed on their respective page. We sometimes have to edit for formatting and length depending on how it looks when placed.
Story written about winter weather for the 2024/2025 Shield Yearbook. After a week of cancelled school and late starts, I knew the winter weather we experienced would be something to cover. Our district decided to enact a "Late Start" rather than a full snow day. This sparked controversy with the Westside community. Our super intentend posted the announcement on Instagram and the world went wild. There were nearly 150 comments of students and parents in outrage over the decision. I knew that those opinions could easily be turned into a story. Because we were out of school for so long, I emailed teachers and administrators asking for their opinions on snow days and late starts and how the school life is effected. Some teachers were weary to share their opinions and made sure to tell me in person. I was, however, able to get view points from all sides. When it came to obtaining information from students, I sent out a google form asking for opinions and insight on snow days and late starts.
Story written about winter weather for the 2024/2025 Shield Yearbook
At Westside, all students are required to take a United States Government class. During the 2024-25 school year, I was enrolled in AP American Government, where I gained insight into how engaged students felt in politics. Given how controversial and widely discussed the 2024 election was, I felt it was especially important to cover it in the yearbook. However, I was aware of the challenge of remaining neutral—it would be easy to unintentionally lean too much to one side. My goal was to ask meaningful questions about politics without making the coverage overly political. I focused on highlighting the importance of young voices in elections and the impact they can have on society. To ensure the spread remained as nonpartisan as possible, both of my AP Government teachers, as well as our principal and other administrators, reviewed it before publication.
Story written about the 2024 Presidential Election for the 2024/2025 Shield Yearbook
going on the page
After the story has been edited by myself and our copy editor, we can place the content onto the yearbook spread.
We sometimes have to edit for formatting and length depending on how it looks when placed.
2024 Election story placed on the respective spread.
Winter Weather story placed on the respective spread.
captions and headlines
For each mod found on a yearbook page, we add headlines pertaining to the content. We like to make these headlines just as clever and intriging as the main headline on the page. We also follow the same design structure as the main headline.
Side Mod Show Choir Spread 2024/2025 Yearbook
It Ends With HooverSide Mod Colleen Hoover Opinion Reading Spread Spread 2024/2025 Yearbook
Playing Dress Up
Deca Side Bar Summer Spread 2024/2025 Yearbook
2024 Election Side Mod and Heading
Snooze Buttons or Snow Boots?
Business In The Front, Party In The Back - Baseball Side Mod
Tell A Friend To Tell A Friend... He's Back!
Restroom Refresh: A Flushing Success
What Happens In The Kitchen Stays In The Kitchen
What's All The Racked About?
Dancing Queens For The Night, Wish That I Could Freeze The Picture, Take A Chance On Me, The Winner Takes It All
Broadway Is Calling, Lights Camera Action, All Eyes On Me
Flour, Sugar and Friendship
32 Victories To One Tough Farewell, Lethal Trio, Emotional Condolences
Record Highs
Love Is In The Air, Valentines? More Like Galentines!, Songs Of The Heart
a yearbook spread from start to finish
Step One: Planning questions for the interview.
Step Two: Reach out and get in contact with desired people. This example was conducted via Email due to cancellations of school.
Step Three: Write the story using interviews. I also will do any research needed.
