With the Walsworth Yearbook Elite Weekend

Over the weekend of September 6 thru the 8, two seniors, LeAnna Batson, and Emma Butler, and Mr. Atkins traveled to Opry Mills to learn about how to design, write, and photograph the yearbook. Nashville Christian School has been trying to go to one of these Elite Weekends in the past, but have never actually been able to go until this past weekend.

“The Elite Weekend was a great experience for yearbook staffs that are really looking to make their book better. The weekend was intense, but I know our yearbook will be better because of it.” 

-LeAnna Batson, 12th grade

While at the conference, the group worked hard to take notes about how to come up with a great theme and theme copy. They found design ideas from magazines, along with the internet, to plan out how to layout dividers between sections and headers. They learned how to create layouts that would draw the eye of the reader, along with learning how to not make the pages look too busy and squeezed together looking.

“I have to say it was a really great experience. I was able to learn how to create layouts for spread templates and come up with the yearbooks cover idea. It was for sure challenging at times, but it was really interesting to learn all the different things that make a yearbook great.”

– Emma Butler, 12th grade

On Sunday morning, the group learned how to take pictures that would draw the reader’s eyes. By changing the angle of the shot, the group found that the picture became a lot more eye-catching. The big thing they learned was, “You sometimes gotta get down and dirty,” meaning sometimes you have to get to spots by climbing and crouching down in the dirt to get best shot in the end. A simple close-up shot can totally be made interesting by making the image have an environmental background.

At the end of the weekend, the group was able to present what they created to the professionals for them to make suggestions and critique their work. The group came in with just an idea of inspiration, and they left with a rough draft of the cover, opening title page, and some spread templates to use throughout the book.