In just over a month, it’ll be time to start filling out enrollment cards for next year. With this in mind, it is a good idea to start thinking about the electives you want to take, either for fun, to complete credits or even to help with your future beyond high school.
Two classes people should focus on more, since they are so deeply underappreciated, are the news and the yearbook. Now, a lot of people might be scared of the commitment or think “I’m not good at photography,” “I don’t like writing long stories,” “I’m scared of interviewing people,” “I’m not creative enough.” However, nine times out of ten, this is definitely not true and here’s why.
First, photography, confident interviewing, design and writing come with time. The majority of journalism students start off insecure with their skills, but build them up over months of work and the final products show how worth it all of it was. But once you master these skills, they become so valuable for any future career.
Professional writing is so important for not just careers but also any formal type of communication. This also follows the skills you gain from interviewing people; you will build up your confidence in talking to new people, and additionally, it’s fun to know about your peers’ hobbies and accomplishments.
Next, photography and editing on different software can help improve your technology skills. You will learn so much about how to navigate files and Google Drive, and the importance of the types of file formats, and better yet, the ability to quickly overcome technical problems with cameras and laptops, all of which are again valuable skills you need in professional aspects of life.
Now, it’s important to compare both yearbook and news, because they are very different types of classes, and yes, there is a “newspaper.”
News:
News is the more chill and creative aspect of journalism, more of a flexible choose-your-own-path type beat. We make issues and post polls and other types of journalism on Instagram. What you want to do is up to you! If you’re more into design, then you can do more infographics; if you want to do more writing, you can do long features or opinion pieces; if you love photography, sign up for lots of photo assignments of different school activities. News timelines can be strict, but it becomes easier over time, and you will always have someone to back you up, because either way, something has to be posted. The class is overall super chill, and everyone is always having fun, and best of all, we get lots of snacks.
Yearbook:
Yearbook is a class where you will get a lot more recognition. It is very similar to news but also so different, and most will tell you that it is much stricter. In a yearbook, you are assigned different pages, like a fall sports, academic or infographic style pages. You also have to follow the yearbook theme, so it can be said that it’s fun to know what all is in the yearbook and the theme, but you will have to follow it and the strict deadlines you have to meet. So while I am biased toward the newspaper, I do appreciate everything the yearbook team does, and until you’re a member of a publications team, you can’t truly appreciate everything that goes on behind the scenes. Either way, the class is equally as fun, and they have many traditions, including a yearbook “wedding.”
Overall, both classes are so much fun and they give you lots of amazing opportunities. There are many competitions where you have the opportunity to submit your work throughout the year and you can gain regional and State-wide recognition. We have been runners-up for the past three years in the State journalism contest. Come join us and help us bring that State title home. So hopefully after reading this you can better differentiate between both news and the yearbook and also consider joining either. More people are always needed and please consider staying tuned for future issues and publications.
