It was Check-it-Out Night, and I was walking around Brighton High School with my mom, seeing all the different clubs and sports I could get involved in. I don't know what drew me to the yearbook table, but when I went over, I learned a lot of stuff about it that sounded really interesting and fun after talking to the EIC's Lilly and Riley. I turned in an application and was accepted on staff.

On the first day of yearbook class my freshman year, I realized that this class was going to be a lot of work. I wasn't worried about that, though. During the first few weeks, I learned about everything. I learned where to stand at a football game to take a strong photo. I leanred how to pull someone out of a class to conduct an interview to get the best story possible. I also learned the basics of design. The thing that really stuck with me is that it all comes down to looking at lots of inspirations and getting ideas from professionals. 

The first spread that I helped design was a boys soccer spread. My team leader, Aubrey, took me and the rest of the students through the planning process and we gathered all of our coverage for the spread. We then had to design it. At first, Aubrey took control of the computer and we got to provide our ideas with what she was doing. She must have noticed I had good ideas, because she then had me take control and have me finish it. I enjoyed just sitting there and moving things around. I kept looking at the style guide my editors set in place to help me make the right choices with the spread. My adviser and editors loved the spread we put together.

As the year went on, I found that designing was something that I really enjoyed, and that it seemed to be the thing that I was good at. I even got my own spread to design all by myself, which was Mr. BHS. There were so may contestants so it was definitely a challenge for me. I was looking online at some magazines to find some inspiration and I found this magazine spread that had a lot of people on it. It helped me figure out how to divide up the spread into mods that each contestant could be highlighted with the winner being more of the dominant focus. I sat there for the entire two weeks just switching things up, adding color and just making it as perfect as I could. I was really proud of the spread when it was done. 

At the end of the year, I was encouraged to apply to be an Assistant Editor-in-Chief, and I thought that by doing so, it would strengthen my skills in not only design but also the yearbook overall. I wasn't sure if being a sophomore I would be considered for the position, but Riley came to my math class at the end of the school year to surprise me through a yerd proposal to ask me to be one of the assistants. 

Over the summer, I went to the Rocky Mountain Journalism Camp at Colorado State University and learned more about designing by taking the advanced design track.  While we were there, I found out that we had to design the cover for our yearbook and start deciding the visual elements we wanted in our yearbook. I really wanted to step up and help design it, so I tried to do that. I went looking at different things on Pinterest, BeHance and other sites just trying to find things that caught my eye. I found lots of cool things from overlapping photos to cutouts. I even found this really cool thing of typography that really inspired the overall look of our book. Yearbook camp can be rough because I spent hours trying to design that cover. The ideas I had in place were what everyone liked so we came back to school in August and kept working on it. I ended up being the one to actually design the cover, and you will see it in my design portfolio. It really drove all the other decisions for the book.

Throughout my sophomore year, I was the one who designed many pages with my group. I collaborated with them to teach them to find their style while still honoring the style guide set in place. With them learning how to design, it taught me more ways to design as well and strengthen my skills. 

I've found that my passion in yearbook has grown to be designing pages. I love taking the photos and stories that we tell and putting them into a strong design that is eye-catching and something people will stop and look at. As I look toward the future and becoming the Editor-in-Chief of the yearbook, I feel like my skills will only get better. I am so excited to keep helping make great yearbooks for Brighton High School.