Beyond the Book: A Look Into ECHO Yearbook Club

As the leaves begin to change, the school year takes off! Our HC Red Devils are busy managing schoolwork, competing in sports, hanging out with friends, and participating in the many clubs Central has to offer. However, one club that catches many students’ eyes is our ECHO Yearbook Club. Once a year, the club compiles the many memories of the school year into one big, hardcover book–our yearbook. This is certainly no small task, as the process takes months of planning, collaboration, and innovation. So who would be brave enough to tackle this beast?

Meet the ECHO staff

Advisors: Chrstine Moss and Amaly ElMenshawy 

Student editors: Kellie Rice (senior), Brooke Hutchison (senior), and Izzy Schroeder (sophomore)

For ECHO Yearbook club, the majority of summer is spent relaxing. That is until August when the club meets for their annual “yearbook camp.” The camp is run by graphic designers and professionals from Jostens yearbook company. They help the student editors create a rough draft of the book, including themes, colors, fonts, and more to help tie the volume together. To name a few themes, last year’s was “HC & Me” (featuring colorful pastels), while the year before was an adaptation of the platform Netflix. 

Now that they’ve laid the groundwork, the team can get cracking.

Student editors divy up the different sections: student life, seniors, sports, and performing arts. The goal is to cover as much figurative ground as possible. Once the editor is assigned their column, they start to work on creating template pages. It is the editor’s responsibility to ascertain photos, rosters, and interviews, among other things. 

Though being a student editor requires a lot of time and dedication, it is the club advisors, Mrs. Moss and Ms. Elmenshawy, who completes the real drudgery of the group. Mrs. Moss (adviser since 2020) and Ms. ElMenshawy (adviser since 2021) have been the inspirational platform that nourishes the editors and members throughout this process. The duo arranges meetings with yearbook reps, guides students on a timeline, digs for information, and more. “They create such a safe and caring environment. Everyone feels comfortable sharing their ideas and building off of each other,” adds sophomore editor Izzy Schroeder. 

As the year goes by, the teams complete pages of event after event, sport after sport, performance after performance. Members tirelessly snap pictures at events, then upload them into the formation process. 

While the process seems grueling, senior editor Kellie Rice states, “I love working on the yearbook because I get to see all my hard work pay off at the end of the year. I’ve also met so many new people in the yearbook crew.” Just like anything, the undertaking seems daunting at first, but Kellie reminds us that new experiences with new people are just as rewarding, and ECHO’s other senior editor Brooke agrees! “I have been a part of this club since my freshman year. It has given me a creative outlet and has allowed me to meet many friends. Everybody at Yearbook is very welcoming and easy to work with.”

Are you wondering when you can see this club in action? Luckily for you, it’s easy to be a part of.  The club meets every Friday in the IMC fishbowl. Meetings are open to anyone willing to help create. So you can come whenever you are available. It’s very flexible. You can commit as much of your time that works for you. Plus, Ms. E brings snacks every week. 

Overall, “My favorite part is when the yearbook is all done and we get to see all our hard work come to life in the form of the final project,” Hutchison shares. And she couldn’t have said it better. The end of the year is a fun time for the club. Handing out the finished book to the students and staff is a wonderful feeling.  With labor often comes reward and the yearbook club is a perfect example of this.