The yearbook staff at Elk Mound High School begins to create the book from the ground up. All the work is done by students for the students, meaning that a company is not hired to help or complete it. The first step in any yearbook process is conceptualizing the design of the book and deciding the theme. There are a lot of factors that go into choosing this theme. The theme has to be relevant to everyone, broad enough to delve into different pages, and with a theme that is exciting. If you have a boring or a theme that only suits a minority of people, then the book will suffer.

The students start out by brainstorming ideas. In the beginning phases, it’s always good to note any good themes or ideas. This usually takes a few meetings since this is an important step. The thought put into selecting the theme sets the pace for the rest of the year when constructing the book pages. The theme will dictate how the pages are designed, the cover, and the overall look. Envisioning the final product can sometimes be tricky, but it helps in the end when making a final decision.

This year the theme of the Elk Mound High School Yearbook is ‘Your Book’. The entire reason behind this theme is to get more student involvement, outside of the yearbook staff, to help contribute and show off student life. There’s more to a yearbook then pictures. It’s a year of memories and most importantly, the memories of the students. This is the final year for departing seniors, and the yearbook is the treasure of many students. Going over the entire last year and just laughing and smiling is the best part of a yearbook. It’s about the students' lives and the student body of Elk Mound.