With these funds I will...send three yearbook staffers to summer camp. These students will come back in the fall ready to teach the rest of our yearbook staff all of the amazing tools, tips, and tricks they learned while attending.

I teach yerds. What are yerds? Yearbook nerds. Yerds. And I teach nearly 50 of them to plan, photograph, interview, draft, revise, and produce a nearly 200-page book each year. My high school English students come to yearbook class from a variety of experiences, from a variety of home situations. From the very first day, they are seeking connection. Our small, farming community can sometimes feel isolating, and students come into my class craving that connection, desiring to share their voice and their stories. Yearbook is that place.

Yearbook is a home, a safe haven, and a creative outlet for so many students. Our class requires dedication, multi-tasking, and the resilience to use constructive criticism to make our publication the very best it can be. Students not only work in our class, but often work on our book outside of class as well, taking photographs and writing copy. We love what we do. We are yerds.

But many of my yerds are strapped for extra funds. Working in a Title 1 district means that many of my students cannot afford the $245 pricetag of attending a summer yearbook training camp.  However, these special students deserve an opportunity to shine.

I am trying to raise funds for three of my students and myself to attend yearbook camp this summer.  It will not simply benefit those attending, but our whole yearbook publication staff and students.  We will bring back to our classroom and program all that we learn, sharing all our connections and yerd awesomeness.

Back Up Plan