So it all comes down to this… 600 books in 50 boxes on two pallets to be viewed by an entire community. To tell you the truth, throughout this first year of advising the yearbook I tried not to actually think about this time of year for the most part. This is due to the fact that I am an extremely superstitious person, and I never want to jinx any outcome, especially the delivery of such a huge collective effort.

To be perfectly honest, although I hoped for the best, I expected the worst. There were just too many factors this year that were going against us: 90% new staff, majority of members were 10th graders, and then the snow. But I had to believe that our hard work would pay off in some way.

Day One – The Arrival – Thursday, May 14, 4:30 PM

I don’t remember much about this day now to tell you the truth – it seems so long ago, so I will just list some of the pluses and minus.

Positives: It wasn’t raining. All the books arrived on time. I had two people help transport them to the yearbook room. And later I had the full staff available to take them to the staging area.

Negatives: It was long after the staff had gone home. There was no overwhelming energy of taking books off of the truck and I had to wait 24 hours to open up a box.

Day Two: The Big Reveal – Friday, May 15th, 11:00 AM

I will have to say – it felt great. And I think the kids felt great. Relieved. Accomplished. Excited. Proud. I honestly think that just as long as there was a green cover in that box and pages that had words on them, then we would have been happy. This feeling made it all worth it. And I was happy.

The next feeling was different. It was a feeling that I had felt before, but not to this extent. Sure we were always leery of mistakes in newspaper, online, literary magazine, and in broadcast, but this feeling was different.

Day 9 – Senior Distribution Day – May 22, 10:15 AM

The feeling was worry. What did we miss? What did we misspell? What is going to make us look completely incompetent? What will make me want to run and hide, give back my undergraduate and graduate degrees in English and Mass Comm? It was a feeling that I hadn’t felt since William and Mary. Those professors can put the fear of God into you, especially if you had not done the reading the night before.

Seniors were called to the commons at 10:15 AM. Students were staged behind tables with three classes of seniors books – on average 10-15 books to handout. Students lined up at each end and were directed to the table which had a sign clearly marking their fifth period class. Seniors showed a photo ID, signed the sheet, and then walked to the middle of the tables and exited back into the commons to sign one another’s books.

The distribution went pretty well, with the exception of a slight altercation (non-yearbook related) that required the forced removal of two students by adults. But hey besides the fight, everything was going well.

Then around 1:00 PM – the craziness of handing out yearbooks subsided and the guttural fear of errors came back. I then remembered what Obi-Wan said when the Death Star had just blown up the planet of Alderaan…

I spoke with two parents about two misspellings and it was miserable. I know what you are saying, “Dude, it is not that bad.” But then every time a student said, “Mr. Waugaman did you see page such and such,” the feeling grew. Now I am not saying that this happened a lot, but the mentioning of even five pages with mistakes feels like this…

And after the weekend things got better. Of course then the underclassmen received their books and another waive of did you see page… came through.

So here we are… two weeks later after the roller coaster has stopped. I cannot tell you how much these last two weeks have prepared me for year number two. Some life lessons:

1. Have seniors sign off on proofs of senior ads.

2. Stress having students proof pages without distractions. Easier said than done. And the more eyes on a page the better. Show them examples from your book of where not being focused may have caused an error.

3. It was a great idea to have seniors sign off on the people section of the yearbook. So far zero errors there (I just jinxed myself I am sure).

4. Embrace the pain of discovering errors and use it to help next time. Remind yourself “it is scholastic journalism,” even if no one else believes it.

5. I did not realize that the jr., sr., II are used in a variety of ways when a child is taking an exact name. And then there are many other rules too once you have deaths in the family. Get it in writing, before you make the mistake. We used a II instead of a III.

6. When handing out yearbooks, be absolutely sure that there is not a personalized book somewhere before handing the student one with no name on the cover. It is however a good way to get a couple of cut-up books.

7. Start identifying where students will be during distribution (we used 5th period) once they start to buy their books, and keep up with these lists, rather than trying to create lists once the books arrive.

8. Set up a schedule for when you will be available for book distribution for times other than the period you originally dedicate. We had a number of field trips this past week.

9. Keep in your mind that these five days are just that. Five days. The excitement will wear off and things will get back to the normal craziness of making next year’s book.

10. There is always next year. Unless you are a senior and then it’s over!

I am sure I will look back at these two weeks and forget all of the pain and only remember the joy. This year has been a lot of fun and now… it’s on to spring packets, graduation coverage, senior portraits…