Editor-in-chief applications for the Hillsdale yearbook have come up dry for the second time in four years.
“I was surprised that no one applied,” said Maria Servold, assistant director of the Dow Journalism Program and the Winona’s faculty adviser.
When this happened during the 2011-2012 academic year, Servold recruited Aaron Sanford ’14 to edit the Winona. He held the position for two years and recruited sophomore Sarah Reinsel to succeed him for the 2014-2015 academic year.
“It is a big project, but that means your name is attached to it,” Servold said. “It’s more thorough publication design experience than anything else on this campus. That looks really good on a resume. It seems that anyone who wants to do design for a career would want to consider doing it.”
Sandford said that the problem-solving abilities required for editing the yearbook have improved his career outside of school.
“The responsibility teaches you to work with deadlines and appreciate the importance of turning in work promptly,” he said.
The question has been posed whether the student body is still interested in a printed yearbook, due to the prevalence of social media. Tomorrow, as the college’s publication board interviews editor-in-chief candidates for the Tower Light and the Collegian, Servold anticipates a discussion about reinventing the campus yearbook.
“Unfortunately, people don’t seem interested in having a printed publication to look back on and reflect,” Servold said. “Ten years ago, or less, people were dying to get their yearbook.”
The idea of seeing the Winona go due to lack of leadership does not sit well with some students.
“The yearbook is necessary,” said junior Meg Prom, who designs for both the Forum magazine and the Winona. “Print lasts. It’s important to continue the tradition of paper rather than just online because there is a different authority in physical paper than just online.”
Student fees cover the budget of all three official student publications (the Collegian, Tower Light, and Winona). The cost to fund all three will total approximately $60,000 next year. More one-third of that will go to the Winona.
Professor of Art Bryan Springer predicted that students may be uninspired by the idea of a yearbook editorship, but he said this thought is unguided.
“Maybe students think of it as a catalogue of people’s faces, and we need to dispel that,” Springer said. “A yearbook editor is like the creative director of a publication. Every yearbook is a blank slate that you can put your creative stamp on.”
