By Anna Starkey

Each fall, yearbooks are distributed to the student body.  Contrary to popular belief, they do not make themselves. Bellbrook yearbook staff members spend all year working diligently to create the perfect book for their peers.  Here are 10 things you probably didn’t know about BHS’s yearbook:

Yearbook is a real class with real work and real assignments…and it can be stressful.

• Yes, yearbook is a real class. It comes around every day during fourth period-before second lunch to be exact. We work very diligently all year to ensure that the yearbook is quality. Each yearbook member has around 10 pages to create by a deadline, so like a normal class, it gets stressful.

Yearbook students have an exam.

• Like any other class, we have an exam.  We may not show up for school for a multiple choice test, but we still have things to do. If we do not complete all of our pages and responsibilities, we fail the class.  Sounds like an exam, right?

We do not choose the price or the delivery date of the yearbook 

• Yes, we know the yearbook is expensive: we have to buy one too. Yes, we know that it is unfortunate that we do not get our yearbooks until the next fall: we have to wait to see our final creation too.  However, we do not set these prices or dates, so do not come to yearbook members with complaints.

Every yearbook has a theme 

• Although it’s not always easy to tell, we attempt to carry out a theme through every yearbook.  Usually, the theme is in the title of the book.  For example, this year our theme is Roots, so the title is “Our Roots” and we have trees on every page as well as sepia-toned photos.

 We design everything. Literally. 

• From the front cover to the page layouts to the fonts, we design everything.  Usually we try to carry out the theme through the design of the book.  We also focus on making the book aesthetically pleasing.  The use of templates is optional.

Every. Single. Picture is edited. 

•  Not every picture we take is perfect and not everyone looks perfect all the time.  But before the picture goes into the yearbook, we want it to look nice. We typically only use Photoshop to enhance color on photos, but yes, sometimes we have to add eyes onto the faces of those who blink when the picture flashes.

We make an honest effort to include everyone in the yearbook.

• We understand that the yearbook does not have pictures of everyone. Typically, those who are involved are included more than those who are not.  We do our best to prevent this by keeping a name list and checking off those that are already pictured, and searching for photos of those who are not.

 We make mistakes too! 

• Trust us, we do not misspell names or confuse faces on purpose.  In fact, we feel terrible when we make even the most minute mistakes.  So yes; you can yell at us for misspelling your name, just know that we tried and we are only human.

We are try our best.

• We put an honest effort into every single page of the book.  We triple-check everything to ensure that the yearbook is an accurate representation of the year.  So when it is criticized or a mistake is pointed out, yes, our feelings are hurt.

What happens in the yearbook room stays in the yearbook room. 

• From the hallway, the yearbook room may seem like a small, cluttered computer lab.  However, it is actually a vault.  Once the door closes, what goes on during yearbook stays in yearbook…

Note: Special thanks to the yearbook staff and Julie Giles for making yearbook class the best part of every day!