File:Students 1988 - 99 Year Book Staff.jpg

Summary

This photo is from the back page of the 1998-99 BHS Yearbook and shows I believe the students responsible for putting together the yearbook for that year. Each year when the yearbook comes out education in the classroom diminishes as the interest of most students turns to perusing through the yearbook and the ritual of signing each other's book. Very quickly students begin to offer their opinions on the overall quality of the yearbook and every year these opinions range from "great" to "terrible." The criteria for these opinions often varied from year to year, but the one consistent factor always seemed to be how well the yearbook and its pictures reflected an individual's high school experience. Some teachers were very strict concerning students looking at their yearbooks during class. Some would take a student's yearbook if it was opened during class time, and some would only return it at the end of the day. Having one's yearbook confiscated during first period and not getting it back till the end of school made for a very long day during the height of the yearbook signing season. Being a "Social" Studies teacher I tried not to seize any yearbooks and usually allowed some time at the end of each period for students to pull out their yearbooks and look through and/or sign them. My opinion was why hassle with students over their yearbooks, and besides, I found it very interesting to listen to the comments of students concerning the yearbook. I always was touched when a student would ask me to sign their yearbook and tried to write a comment or two that reflected something specific about the student that went beyond the customary "Good luck to you in the future" or "See you next year." After my first year at Brunswick I decided to buy a yearbook each year and did so starting with the 1980 edition all the way until I retired in 2009. With my first purchase I also started the practice of having students sign my book. At first I reciprocated with students who asked me to sign their yearbooks by asking them to sign mine, but since not all students had yearbooks I then would make a request that all my students sign it even if all they did was just sign their names. I would often tell students that after reading their homework and tests for a year or a semester I was familiar with their handwriting and this added something more to the words they wrote. I also did not read any of the comments written until the school year was over. One of the hardest aspects of being a teacher is that often you do not know the impact you have on your students and by having students sign your yearbook you'll get comments that a student may be too shy to say to you privately or publicly in a classroom ;=)!

Courtesy of Jon Evans