Canby Chronicle teams up with Canby High School to keep 100-year-old yearbook tradition alive
By Jules Rogers
When Canby High School published its 100th yearbook volume last year, it marked a century of students, school activities, friendships, accomplishments, and memories captured between the covers of a book.
Now, the school is working to make sure the tradition continues.
The yearbook class was discontinued this school year after the school bond failed last May. In its place, Canby High School is transitioning the yearbook into a student club, with support from the Canby Chronicle.
In recent years, yearbook was offered as a class for sophomores and older students. The program also expanded to include journalism courses and an Intro to Yearbook class.
While the exact history of the program before recent years is unclear, the yearbook class had been offered for at least 15 years.
After the bond failed, Canby Chronicle Publisher Matthew Nelson and Production and Content Manager Kaity VanHoose began exploring ways to help preserve the program. VanHoose reached out to Canby High School Principal Cari Sloan to discuss the coming school year and where the newspaper could step in.
“The idea of transitioning yearbook into a club was already on the table,” VanHoose said. “Sloan, and I am sure many others, felt that a yearbook is an important part of the high school experience.”
For VanHoose, the importance of the yearbook is rooted in what it captures — not just the major events, but the everyday moments that might otherwise fade.
“These are the memories of a school year: athletics, teammates, plays, clubs, activities, classes, and all of the little moments that happen in between,” VanHoose said. “A school can certainly continue without a yearbook, but the yearbook creates a place for all of those memories, including the things you may otherwise forget happened over the years.”
As a vendor for the Canby School District, the Canby Chronicle will provide support for the club, with VanHoose serving as its advisor and leading the yearbook program.
That partnership also gives students access to additional resources and professionals who can teach skills involved in producing a yearbook, including photography, writing, ethics, media law, layout, and design.
For VanHoose, the opportunity is particularly personal.
A 2019 Canby High School graduate, VanHoose joined yearbook during sophomore year and quickly discovered a passion for the work.
“I truly think yearbook is a large part of why I decided to attend the SOJC and study journalism and advertising, which ultimately led me back into graphic design and eventually into magazines and newspapers,” VanHoose said.
VanHoose has continued to enjoy layout and design since first learning the skills in high school.
“I have enjoyed layout and design ever since I first picked it up in high school,” VanHoose said.
Now VanHoose, who graduated from Canby High in 2019, hopes to give current Canby students the same opportunity to discover what they can create.
The number of students who will join the club was still being determined ahead of the school’s Sept. 14-16 club fair. In recent years, approximately four students were enrolled in the yearbook class, with another 20 students participating through Intro to Yearbook.
Under the club model, students will be able to contribute according to their interests. Some may gravitate toward writing or interviewing, while others may prefer photography or design.
“When I participated in yearbook, students took on every role: interviewing, writing, photography, layout, and design,” VanHoose said. “We did all of it as a team.”
The change in format will also bring new challenges.
“Photos, photos, photos,” VanHoose said when asked about the biggest challenge of producing a yearbook.
Even with thousands of photographs available, finding the handful that truly capture an event can be difficult. While the yearbook class allowed students to coordinate directly with teachers and photograph classroom activities during designated class time, a club will have fewer hours available.
“Now that yearbook is a club, we will have to rely much more heavily on communication and timing,” VanHoose said. “Students are still in school to actively learn, so asking them to leave class regularly for a club or extracurricular activity is not ideal.”
Beyond producing a book, the goal is to give students ownership of the process and something they can be proud of.
“This is the first year yearbook has had to operate as a club, so there will naturally be a learning curve,” VanHoose said. “More than anything though, we want students to learn from the experience and create something they are proud of.”
Those lessons extend beyond journalism and design. Interviewing can teach communication and critical thinking, photography can sharpen attention to detail, and design can teach students how to take an idea from conception to completion.
“Yearbook requires a lot of hard work and time, but it also teaches skills that can translate into almost any industry,” VanHoose said.
Still, there is plenty of room for creativity. As students begin shaping the next volume, VanHoose said they will bring their own ideas and perspectives to the book.
“I do not think an idea is worth immediately shutting down,” VanHoose said. “Sometimes the weirdest idea ends up being the one that works best.”
Ultimately, VanHoose hopes students discover that the work can be both meaningful and enjoyable.
“You can work hard and still have fun,” VanHoose said.
That may be especially important as students take on the responsibility of documenting their own school year — one photograph, interview, page, and unexpected idea at a time.
“My hope is that the program gains enough members to thrive and continues producing great yearbooks for years to come,” VanHoose said. “I hope these students find joy in what they produce and feel proud of what they are capable of creating.”
