Hillsdale College is offering a course to work on the Winona yearbook, focusing on elements of graphic design.
Breana Noble | Collegian
Starting in the fall, students can earn one credit for working on Hillsdale College’s yearbook, the Winona. Student Federation will continue to fund the Winona in the same way as the school’s two other official publications, the Collegian and the Tower Light.
“The reason for the class is to provide more time and structure for the staff of the yearbook, so they are able to put it together,” Assistant Director of the Dow Journalism Program Maria Servold said. “A lot of the time they are trying to squeeze it in among other things they’re doing.”
In past years, the yearbook has functioned as a club, and the college has offered neither a course nor any credit to those who participated in the publication’s creation.
“The reason we decided to talk about it as a class is to encourage more participation; it was to provide more opportunities to students who take ownership of the publication and use some class credit as incentive,” said instructor of graphic design Bryan Springer, who is co-teaching the yearbook class. “That was really the initial idea.”
Servold and Springer will be the class co-instructors, with Servold providing organization and journalistic insights and Springer answering graphic design questions. As the semester progresses, only Springer will be present in the class’ session as he instructs students on how to place pictures into the design programs, including Adobe InDesign.
“It would be a good idea to start the year talking about…what the yearbook is for, the stories we tell with it, and the responsibility you have to the rest of the college by putting it together well,” Servold said.
The class will be student-driven in terms of creativity, but Springer will coach and guide students on what is logistically possible.
“We thought about making design more accessible to that publication, so they might be able to explore more creative solutions and have ownership of it,” Springer said.
The class will meet once a week in Sage Center for the Arts. It is unlike the Collegian class, which provides course credit but does not meet for a formal class.
The current editor-in-chief of the Winona, senior Meg Prom, suggested the change because it would give students more time to create the yearbook, as they are already giving so much time to the club. She said she believes this class, which will provide a stronger training in the graphic design element, will improve the Winona as a whole.
“I also come from a high school that has a separate yearbook class, and I know that many schools often have a publications class to deal with those restrictions,” Prom said in an email. “I think my yearbook team has done very well with finding time so far, but it’s very obvious that it is more difficult to work outside of class than it would inside one.”
Prom said she hopes a wider variety of students will appear in the yearbook as more students enroll in the class.
“If there are yearbook students from Greek Life, intramurals, freshmen and seniors alike, then there is a higher chance that everyone will see their friends in the yearbook and more of our school could be represented,” Prom said.
It will become a place where students can learn about the requirements of composing a yearbook, as opposed to only attracting those who have experience working with one, Servold said. She said she hopes this will bring an inspiration to the students to overcome those challenges and join the yearbook team.
Although no Winona editor-in-chief has been chosen yet, Servold said she plans to choose the next editor from the students enrolled in the class and encourages anyone interested in the position to contact her directly. She also said anyone interested should enroll in the class, as there are still openings available.
“It’s there, and it’s open to everyone,” Servold said. “It’s important and something we want everyone to participate in.”
The Winona Yearbook class, ART 393-02, will meet Fridays from 9:30-10:30 a.m. in the graphics lab in the Sage Center for the Arts.