Saturday, March 29, 2008

Book of memories

Magdalena students work hard to put together a yearbook for the first time in a long time

Audry Olmsted El Defensor Chieftain Managing Editor

AOLMSTED     aolmsted@dchieftain.com

    A group of Magdalena students and a teacher have taken on the task of collecting memories throughout the year and preserving them in bound books, and their enthusiasm has spread to the rest of the school.

    This is the first year that a yearbook class is part of the Magdalena Schools curriculum. When students were asked how long it has been since they've had a yearbook, all of their responses were "a long time."

    "We wanted to bring back the yearbook because it hasn't been here for a long time and we wanted to (share) the memories," said Augusta Seward, 18, who is one of six students in the yearbook class.

    In the yearlong course, the students have gone out in the field photographing and documenting events around the school. They are laying out the design for each page and making sure the pages are sequential. The students will also print and bind the books themselves.

    Colleen Smith, 18, said she initially took the class because she didn't know how many students would sign up for it and she wanted to make sure the yearbook did get done.

    Smith said she enjoyed going around the school and taking pictures for the yearbook.

    Gwynn Monte, 17, said she thought it was fun to organize the pages and put the yearbook together.

    Leslie Clark, who is teaching the course, said her students are doing "an unbelievable job" at getting the yearbook together.

    "The kids are totally self-motivated," she said. "This is their personal project. They've put their heart and soul into it."

    Clark said she recently attended her 20-year class reunion and enjoyed reminiscing about her high school experiences.

    She wants the Magdalena students to be able to have those same experiences, which motivated her to request a yearbook class.

    Last year, all the teachers were asked by Regina Lane, mid-high principal, to create their dream-school schedule. Clark put in that she would like a yearbook class, and she got it.

    "I got my dream schedule! She made my dream come true," Clark said with a laugh.

    Clark said now that word has gotten out about what they are doing, people around the school are getting with her and requesting that certain events and activities make it into the book.

    Two copies of the yearbook will be created: a black-and-white soft cover book for $7 and a color hardbound book for $20.

    Clark told school board members this week they are considering having students' names engraved on the covers for an extra cost.

    The students said all the funds will go back into to the course to help them build the program next year.

    This year, the students are using what computer resources they have available at the school and everyone said it was a learning experience working with the Microsoft Word and Publisher software.

    Clark said the students had no special software and they only used some money to get a machine to bind the books and the covers. She would like to look into purchasing software that would be specific to creating yearbooks in the future.

    The students said they went to businesses and local people in Magdalena and Socorro to sell ads to appear in the yearbook. A full-page ad sold for $70 and smaller ads sold for varying prices. Clark said the students used their lunch time and Fridays to sell ads.

    "(It was) a lot more work than we expected," Smith said.

    The other students agreed that it was a lot of work putting out the yearbook, but they were having a lot of fun in the process.

    Seward said she takes pride in the work they are doing together.

    "I think that we're working really hard, coming together," said Marissa Tafoya, a sophomore.

    Also in the class are sophomore Nicholas Padilla and senior Sasha Hardy.

    The class hopes to finish the yearbooks by the end of April, so they will be able to hand them out in May, right before school lets out for the summer.

    "I think it's about preserving memories,' Clark said. "Our school is very small. It's unusual in that we know the kindergarten kids, because we work so closely together. We don't want to lose those memories."

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