While sitting in work this week I overheard my co-workers talking about yearbooks. They said how excited they were to get them and have everyone sign them. Our boss overheard the conversation and broke the news that yearbooks haven’t been printed since 2005. They were astonished and so was I. Why wouldn’t yearbooks be a thing anymore? Who was in charge of making a yearbook? And who made the decisions of having one or not?
I did a little digging around and found out that the decision for not having a year book was simply in the students. Rachel Lucking who is the Director of Student Involvement and Leadership Development at FSU, said that a group of students would have to be declared as a club by SILD and SGA, then get funding from SGA to pay for supplies and putting together the yearbook; it’s simply that easy.
Because students didn’t have anyone to run a club to make a yearbook there wouldn’t be one. And nobody has made the effort since 2005. Because a class didn’t even discuss a yearbook, making one didn’t even come up in conversation.
Why don’t students want to have a yearbook? I don’t think they understand that college is supposed to be the best years of their lives and wouldn’t they want to remember that? A yearbook is one way to save their memories and look back at the teachers they had, friends and people they saw and knew around campus and how the campus looked in general. Wouldn’t they want to dig up an old book 10, 20 or 30 years later and remember all the fun crazy times they had in their life before they hit the real world?
Framingham State does offer and digital yearbook dating back from 1915 all the way to 2005. This gives you a look to see what the school was like back in the day. If we did this today for 2014 then kids in the future will get the same experience that we can get with looking at these digital yearbooks. To see the digital yearbooks go to the Framingham State homepage, then go on to the Henry Whittemore Library homepage. From there on the left side of the page click on Digital Commons at Framingham State University. When you see the search-box in the upper left hand corner search for which yearbook you would like to see.
It’s sad to see that students have decided to stop producing a yearbook because from a personal perspective I would like to remember all the people that I have met while being here. This has been my home for two years now and will be for the next two I want to share my experience with my family and friends and show them the people that I met and the places I had to go every day. A yearbook would give me that option.
I asked students there opinion on having a yearbook and most them talked about the cost. They said that since there high school yearbook was so much money that they thought a college one would be even more. Others said they barely even look at their high school one so they don’t need a college one. Technology is improving so much these days, with Instagram and Twitter; it’s easier to upload pictures for everyone to see, faster than digging through a closet to find an old yearbook. A year book is a big project that would need to have a dedicated candidate to take on the challenge. They would have to take on costs, pictures, statements from students and more.
In the end the decision of a yearbook would be up to you. If you are really passionate about the idea of having a yearbook then be that person to make the change. Start a club or get a group of people together and start a discussion about it. Spread the word and maybe people who are interested will join as well. You can visit Student Involvement and Leadership Development located in the McCarthy Center to pitch the idea and then go to the Student Government Association office and meeting to become an actual club.
By: Shelby Wood
Henry Whittemore Library's Blog 