Given the advances in media, photo and printing technology, publishing a yearbook has never been easier for schools, clubs and organizations. But this same technology offers so many choices and alternatives that the process of beginning or updating a yearbook program can appear overwhelming. "How to Advise Yearbook" is a new course offered this spring in Carson City through the Western Nevada College's Community Education department and is designed to give aspiring and novice yearbook advisers a solid grounding in the theory and application of modern yearbooking.
"Running a yearbook program is so different from any other type of publication or scholastic journalism," says course instructor R. Keith Rugg. "It can be a lot of fun, and it doesn't have to be a lot of work, but the whole thing goes so much more smoothly if you have the goals and guidelines established at the beginning of the project." This class, he says, will empower those new to yearbooking with the ability to determine what they want their book to do, and how best to achieve that result.
The class will be appropriate for teachers and parent volunteers who work to put a yearbook or 'memory book' together at the elementary school level, for yearbook teachers and club advisers at the middle and high school levels, and for aspiring teachers seeking to improve their chances of being hired at a school. "The combination of ability and willingness to take on an extracurricular activity is a big plus in the education job market. This class will give new teachers the hands-on experience to go into a job interview and talk confidently about being able to help out with a yearbook program in particular, or with scholastic journalism in general," says Rugg.
Rugg is the former editor of Lake Tahoe Action Magazine and a former copy editor and staff designer for both the Tahoe Daily Tribune and the Reno Gazette-Journal. He has earned awards from the press associations in both Nevada and California, and has instructed students at yearbook camps and classes in Nevada, California and Utah. He works with yearbook programs at elementary, middle, and high schools and colleges throughout Northern Nevada and California.
The class, "How to Advise Yearbook," takes place for two hours each Thursday evening, beginning on February 7. For more information or to register, please visit the course listing on the Western Nevada College website at http://www.campusce.net/wnc/course/course.aspx?C=173&pc=13&mc=58&sc=0, or e-mail the instructor at rkrugg@aol.com