The yearbook staff has the responsibility of storing the entire school year’s memories into the yearbook, and they’re already getting started. Wingspan recently sat down in the yearbook production classroom with Carole Babineaux, the yearbook director, to talk about the upcoming Liberty yearbook for the 2015-2016 school year.

Wingspan: How far are you guys on this year’s yearbook?

Babineaux: “Well, we’ve got all the planning done, all the design, and what we call the theme, and the development of that. We’re still finalizing on the cover because we want it to be really special, but it’s still a little early to start on spreads, pages, and stuff. Of course, the photographers are building up photos.”

Wingspan: What is this year’s theme?

Babineaux: “If I told you that, they would kill me. It’s always a secret. Um, it’s just the fun of being on yearbook.”

Wingspan: How have the yearbooks changed throughout the years?

Babineaux: “They’ve gone from being scrapbooks- just picture books- to actually telling more stories. And they’ve gone from being just kind of stark layouts to being more magazine designs- and of course, now they’re all colored.”

Wingspan: How do you come up with ideas for yearbook themes?

Babineaux: “The students brainstorm. Sometimes we get awful silly about it. We finally start throwing out everything that could possibly come out. We’re always looking for something that ties to that particular year- maybe something that’s different about that year than other years, or maybe something that we just feel like needs to be brought out. There’s lots of different ways to come up with them.”

Wingspan: What was your favorite yearbook theme throughout the years?

Babineaux: “I think the year here, at Liberty, that we did a theme called- it was “The End Of the Beginning”, and because it was the last year of all the first that we had as a new school. “

Wingspan: What are your hopes for this year’s yearbook?

Babineaux: “Always the same hope I had forever is that the students like it.”

Wingspan: What do students love most about yearbook?

Babineaux: “If you’re talking about the students who purchased the book or who…”

Wingspan: The class.

Babineaux: “I think the thing they like the most is the fact that they are capturing and preserving memories for everybody else. It’s like, it’s really a privilege when one gets to keep the history of the year and put it together. And they love to create a side of it. They also love the interaction between the staff, and sometimes kind of the bickering back and forth between photographers and designers. But mostly, it’s the privilege to collect those memories and save them for their fellow students.”

Wingspan: What do students like least about yearbook?

Babineaux: “The work. It’s a lot more work than most people think. And sometimes it’s frustrating trying to get the information from the people they need, trying to keep up with the stats, they  work two hours after school every Tuesday afternoon during the production season, so I think the thing they like least is deadlines, of course, and the workload.”

Wingspan: What makes the school’s yearbooks different from yearbooks in other schools?

Babineaux: “I would like to think it’s because we pay more attention to what our market or our audience wants, and that we target the things that we want our student body to enjoy. We’re not as worried about the judges out there, the awards, and stuff like that. The only award we’re looking for is that our students like the product.”

Wingspan: What would you like to say to the students that are thinking about joining yearbook next year?

Babineaux: “Come on. I want to see everybody who’s interested in helping us produce a journalistically sound memory book for Liberty High School to be part of the program.”