The yearbook class at Benilde-St. Margaret’s is more than just an elective. It is a collaborative course that allows students to expand their knowledge through all of the school’s activities and clubs. They figure out a way to capture the best memories throughout the year to put in the yearbook. As the students in the class work together to create the yearbook, they gain valuable life skills that will stick with them throughout their lives.

Among all the lessons that students learn from the class, the most common one is the importance of teamwork. The class is centered around the community that the yearbook students built in their classroom. They learn to work together with their peers in the class and with other students outside of the class so that they can effectively capture and preserve all of the interests and aspects of the BSM community. “I think I’ve learned to develop more teamwork skills when it comes to yearbook. It is a lot of team building, and so I think that yearbook has helped me be more involved [in the BSM community],” junior yearbook staff Melise Wojnicz said.

Communication is a quality that goes hand in hand with the skill of teamwork. While communication is a skill that should be emphasized in all classes in school, there is no doubt that it is heavily practiced every day in the yearbook classroom. A main aspect of the yearbook class is for the students to go out and collect pictures and quotes from the other students at BSM, so they have enough information to fill out the yearbook. This job requires the yearbook staff to have the ability to engage with students and have enough communication skills to persuade the students to participate in the yearbook. “One thing that I’m trying to get these kids to do is feel very comfortable talking to people face to face so that they can improve those skills before college,” yearbook advisor Paul Canavati said.

As any life experience is, creating the yearbook is not always the smoothest process. It can be a stressful class because of all of the deadlines that need to be met, and there is a class full of unique and creative minds that don’t always have the same ideas for the yearbook. The students have to work out any disagreements or challenges maturely and responsibly, so that they benefit everyone in the class. “I think it’s really important that instead of pulling in all your anger and holding a grudge with somebody, you talk it through and work out your problems. That’s been very beneficial for our class because a lot of times people disagree on things,” senior yearbook editor Kate Jaeger said.

The need for maturity and the ability to work out differences that come between the students creates a tight-knit community in the yearbook classroom. The students all love going to class because they know that they have created a fun environment that bonds them all together. The vulnerability that the students have with each other is a unique characteristic of the class. The students are each other’s support systems, and they have created a family within the classroom. They have special experiences such as “Therapy Thursdays”, where the students are welcomed to get anything off of their chests that they need to, and they lift each other up from hearing about each other’s experiences. “It is a class, but it’s also a small community. I think it has made [the students] better listeners and maybe a little bit more empathetic, and people are getting very comfortable with giving advice and suggestions,” Canavati said.

The students also walk away from this class with leadership and communication skills that are crucial for their life after high school, and they have figured out how to handle situations maturely and effectively. It is highly encouraged by all of the yearbook students for other BSM students to join the yearbook class if they get the chance, because of the fun and knowledge that they gain from the class. “My biggest advice [for someone joining the yearbook class] would be to be yourself, be excited for the class, bring the energy…and have fun,” Wojnicz said.