What makes us "Ridge"
24 students, that's it. 24 out of 2700- that is only 0.8% of Desert Ridge High School's student population who are responsible for creating the La Cordillera yearbook. While that number is not very high, over the past three years as the yearbook adviser I have strived to teach these few students not only how to make a successful yearbook, but how to become successful people. Being able to finally see the end productin May is the best moment ofthe entire year, butto me, it's so much more than that moment. When my staff opens their yearbook,they see all their work come to life, but when I open their book, I see young adults who are now prepared to enter the real world...
What most people don't realize isthat a yearbook is more than just pictures and words- it is months and months of preparation and dedication. It all starts with one piece of inspiration; it could be: a color, a photo, a font, a layoutfrom the Jostens Look Book, a Pinterest pin- anything. Planning a yearbook begins the second the creation of the current yearbook isfinished in March, and planning laststhrough the summer months untilthe new school year begins in August. During this time, returning staff members work together on developing a theme, something that will positively and creatively shine a bright light on Desert Ridge High School. Theme development takes time, as staff members must further establish their best ideas, scrap not-so-great ones, and be constantly looking for contemporary waysto incorporate new coverage. This year's theme centered around the community of Desert Ridge and how even through difficult times we are resilient. From changes at the district level and within our administration and faculty, one thing is forever certain: our Jaguar pride. After learning last year that our school did not receive an "A+" recognition, we did not rest on our laurels; we took every piece of advice and lifted our expectations across campus, elevated our current classroom standards, and rose to the challenge to become a better school as a whole. This is what drove the theme "Ridge." As I sat in my first faculty meeting of the school year in July, I was introduced to a new teacher, Dana Henderson, and she let the staff know how excited she was to be a member of "Ridge"- now Dana didn't say Desert Ridge, she said Ridge. In that moment, I knew we hit the nail on the head with our theme.
Once school began in August so did the hard work. The day-to-day life of a La Cordillera Yearbook staff member is something people will never fully understand until they are apart ofthe program, and Ithink that when students sign up for yearbook they don't even really know what they just got themselves into. Each day, staff members: plan, research, photograph, interview, write, design, edit, collaborate, communicate, advertise, finance, and lead. While all ofthese skills hold significant merit in the academic and journalistic world, these skills hold an even stronger value in the real world. Yearbook, even though itis a class, is very much a real business; the La Cordillera yearbook is an $90,000 project and if the staff does not properly utilize all of the skills necessary to the best of their ability, there can be serious social and financial repercussions. The yearbook staff has to complete tasks that many working Americans do daily at a paid, 9 to 5 job; these students only have 55 minutes each day to do their job, and despite being in a high school environment, they are able to communicate professionally with peers, faculty members, and parents, and perform under pressure in order to adequately accomplish their goals. As a high school yearbooker myself, I never thoughtI would have used the skills yearbook taught me once I hit college; when I was on my own, however, I was able to: budget properly, advocate for myself, communicate effectively to people in positions of power, manage mytime, and give 110% in allthat I did. Once these 24 students leave the confines of D-Ridge, they will be able to do all of these things to a higher caliber than I ever was able to.
Looking back on all of the work since March 2014, it's amazing to me how much my staff has created in order to provide a higher quality yearbook for the community. When we were in the beginning stages of the theme-planning process, we knew we had to expand our expectations with this yearbook- we owed it to our school to give them somethingworth looking at and cherishing forever. As a club, we decided student coverage was our number one priority. The editorial team established a coverage concept that names would be pulled out of bins at random and used throughout the book to provide more student diversity. I'm proud to say that we have surpassed last year's student coverage percentage by 15%. Alongside coverage, we also knew that the second most important thing in the yearbook are the photos. My staff had the opportunity to work with digital photography teacher Mike Mangone in order to produce higher quality images, and with some trial and error,the staff was able to change the way they look at photography; as a result, there isn't a day that goes by that I'm not blown away by atleast one student photo. Finally, in an ultimate effort to enhance our book's quality, we wanted to do something to bring the book to life. This year we teamed up with the app Aurasma to make that dream a reality; each photo denoted with a gold paw print means thatthe photo will in fact come to life- just open the app, hold the camera over the photo, and a video starts playing. Even after seeing this for months, I'm still left in awe each time.
The 2014-2015 Desert Ridge High School yearbook is unlike any other yearbook I have ever seen, and I accredit that solely to the staff's dedication, imagination, and teamwork. Each and every day in room 2112 I see growth amongst my staff not just as student journalists, but as members of the American society. I must admit, as an adviser I have extremely high expectations, but this year's staff has exceeded every expectation I had. I am beyond proud to be the La Cordillera adviser, and I am truly honored to have worked with these 24 individuals on the "Ridge" yearbook. As a "trYBe," the La Cordillera staff lifted their expectations, elevated their quality of work, and rose to an unprecedented standard. That is what makes them "Ridge."
