Bryant Junior High's 2023 yearbook, The Blue and White, has been selected by Jostens as one of the examples for exceptional theme development in their fall workshops throughout the country.
Theme development is the process through which the yearbook staff tells the unique story of the year by making consistent designs and a recurring tagline. Last year's theme was "To be Continued." This year's has not been announced.
Several returning staff members learned of the accomplishment while themselves attending the Jostens central Arkansas workshop for instruction and inspiration. The staff attends annually.
"I remember last year when I went to the workshop, I thought the yearbooks being featured or presented on the screen for everyone were greatly made and it would be cool for ours to be up there," Erin Wright, photography editor, said, "Seeing your work getting recognized is such a big accomplishment and I feel honored to be a part of such an amazing staff."
The staff also attends to get professional feedback from artists and Jostens experts on their cover and current theme elements, an important part of the process.
"As a staff I feel like they really helped us to be able to express what we really felt about the book," Xoe Hawkins, managing editor, said, "As individuals it really helped us to be able to take people critiquing our work, to take what they were saying as them trying to help us not them trying to hurt our feelings,"
Wright, Hawkins, and other returning members plan to use the feedback to grow the media program as a whole while developing individual career-ready skills in graphic design, photography, journalism, marketing, and more.
"It's always about the future success of the students," Meag Abo, media adviser said, "Having the publications featured and used as a model for other students nationally just reaffirms that these students are thriving and will continue to do so. I'm very proud of each of them."