Do you have any more recruiting tips?

The last proofs have been returned to the plant. Yearbooks are due in three weeks. The cycle never ends as planning for next year begins. As first year advisers, Karen Bisso and Wendy DeMane faced numerous challenges, the greatest of which was the severe shortage of a dedicated and knowledgeable yearbook staff. A presentation at the CSPA convention prompted them to reinvent the formerly passive manner in which the yearbook staff materialized each September.

STEP ONE: Order the Herff Jones Staff Recruiting Package. Using names provided by Plattsburgh (NY) High School teachers, the adviser made a list of exceptionally hard-working and talented students as possible yearbook class members.

STEP TWO: Wow them! Personal letters mailed to the homes of prospective staffers invited them to a meeting, refreshments included. In a darkened room, a PowerPoint program with the rousing Outlaws anthem “Take It Any Way You Want It” proclaimed you should “be your own superstar.” On the screen, photos of the yearbook staff experiencing laughter, frustration, camaraderie, long hours, teamwork and, ultimately, success effectively answered the question “What is yearbook?”

STEP THREE: Celebrate! Applications and teacher recommendations were collected and reviewed. The resulting 2007 Barker staff of 20 represents PHS’s brightest and most motivated, as evidenced by their enthusiastic voluntary participation in the initial planning meeting held during finals week. These students are willing to give their all and a little more—exactly what a successful yearbook needs.

Yearbook Discoveries, Volume 11, Issue 3
Karen Bisso & Wendy DeMane, Yearbook Advisers
Plattsburgh High School, NY