Looking for inspiration for how to fill your yearbook this year due to COVID-19?
Entourage Yearbooks has you covered when don’t know what to cover in your yearbook!
With end of year events being cancelled, many schools expressed concern to us about what they should put in their yearbook. At the same time, many other schools came up with amazing ideas on how to still make their yearbook a success. Entourage Yearbooks reached out to these schools to provide you with real world examples and designs, and listed some of our favorite ideas below. We hope these ideas help inspire you to not only create beautiful pages, but how to get your students involved virtually!
1. YEAR IN REVIEW TEMPLATES
Entourage offers pre-designed pages of current events in pop culture, technology, sports, and more from over the past year. These single page templates allow schools the option to pick and choose the content they want to place in their project. These templates can be found under the category “Year in Review” in the “Templates” tool in the EDOnline designer.
2. CREATE A GAME PAGE
Give students a break from being online all of the time by creating a crossword, word search, mad lib or other fun fill in the blank game. It can be based on the graduating class, mascot, clubs, or so much more within the school. You can also use positive events as your theme by basing your game on historical moments specific to your school or community.
3. MESSAGE FROM YOUR PRINCIPAL
Adding a page capturing either the sentiments of your Principal or Superintendent during this unprecedented time can have an even more powerful effect. This historic event has presented challenges for all Administrators and Educators and it is essential to capture their perspective on the situation. They can address concerns such as moving forward as a school, or what they like to do to stay positive during times of crisis.
4. SPECIAL PAGES FOR YOUR TEAM
Create a special spread featuring your Yearbook Staff or PTA. You may want to include how the school closures affected the creation of the yearbook and how the staff worked remotely to make the project happen. Give special shoutouts to those who went above and beyond during this time! You can also spotlight a club or organization that does not normally receive a large amount of coverage in the school’s annual yearbook who also made changes to work remotely.
5. CAPTURE THE FAMILY FUN
As students and families across the nation have been told to “Shelter in Place” or “Stay at Home,” interacting closely with your immediate household is the new normal. How is each family taking on each day? Encourage parents and/or students to submit photos via the LiNK site or Entourage LiNK App doing activities such as cooking together, playing board games, walks in the neighborhood, etc. What furry friends do students have that may not normally be featured in the yearbook?
6. COVERING THE PANDEMIC
The COVID-19 pandemic is a historic event that can be documented in the pages of your yearbook. You can cover everything from social distancing to school closures to e-learning to empty shelves at the grocery store. We encourage you to also include inspiring stories of local heroes in your own community who were on the front lines working for others during the crisis. Entourage has made templates specifically for this event that can be found under the “Year in Review” section of the “Templates” tool in EDOnline.
7. VIRTUAL SPIRIT WEEK
Get students involved from the comfort of their own home! Get the word out about Spirit Week and encourage students (even families) to dress up throughout the week. Themed days can include “Super Hero Day” (in honor of hospital workers, first responders, supermarket employees, etc.), “Jersey Day” (in honor of favorite sports teams that have canceled their seasons), and of course “Pajama Day!” or you can check out more ideas by clicking here. Create a Spirit Week photo folder under “Manage Photos” in EDOnline and have participants upload photos via the Entourage LiNK App or the LiNK website.
8. COLLEGE ACCEPTANCE DAYS
Get students involved from the comfort of their own home! Get the word out about Spirit Week and encourage students (even families) to dress up throughout the week. Themed days can include “Super Hero Day” (in honor of hospital workers, first responders, supermarket employees, etc.), “Jersey Day” (in honor of favorite sports teams that have canceled their seasons), and of course “Pajama Day!” or you can check out more ideas by clicking here. Create a Spirit Week photo folder under “Manage Photos” in EDOnline and have participants upload photos via the Entourage LiNK App or the LiNK website.
9.JOURNALING/PERSONAL YEAR AT A GLANCE
While students typically have their books signed by their favorite teachers and friends, this year may be different. Encourage students to instead write in their own yearbook jotting down how they felt about the current situation in the nation. Simply type “Notebook” into the keyword search under the “Templates” tool in EDOnline to access an array of colored notebook paper that can be placed onto your pages. Where were they when they heard school was canceled? How did they feel about the activities being canceled? How are they handling online school?
10. END OF YEAR EVENTS FOR SENIORS
School Sports, Dances, Traditions, Senior Trips and Grad Night have either been canceled or postponed. But there are still ways to spotlight your graduating class. Encourage seniors to submit their favorite photos from past years that may not have made it into the yearbook before to create spreads still specific to their class but with a new twist on some throwbacks.
11. VIRTUAL PROM
While several students will miss out on experiencing this popular high school event together, they can share this special day with their immediate family. Students can dress up in their best attire and have a special dinner with their household. Are any students hosting virtual events for everyone to share their looks? Have them submit photos via LiNK for this Virtual Prom page spread.
12. POPULAR TRENDS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Is there a particular event or idea that is currently trending amongst your students and staff? Is there a show everybody is quoting, a song they are listening to or a dance move they are taking on? One example would be to create a Tik Tok or dance challenge page in which students can submit images of them doing their favorite dance moves. Or get it on video and watch them over again and again through EDOnline’s safe and secure QR codes.
13. ALL ABOUT ME PAGES
Include one of our “All About Me” Spreads or create your own! It is so much fun for students to look back on these down the road and see who their best friends or favorite teachers were. Although it’s an unprecedented time, these simple questions can help serve as a time-capsule for the little things we may overlook. Add questions to your own custom spread to help students capture their thoughts at this important moment in time.
14. LET TEACHERS SHOW OFF THEIR STYLE
Get your staff involved! What does their homeschool teaching uniform look like? How have they set up their home office? What do they do in their spare time? Do they have a pet that keeps them company while they work? Create polls for anyone to easily fill out under the “Manage LiNK” section in EDOnline to give students a fun way to get to know their teachers better!
15. AUTOGRAPH PAGES
Entourage has an array of Autograph Templates to choose from or you can create your own! You can even use some of the space on the autograph pages to feature student art, student photos or inspirational quotes. Include QR codes with links for teachers to upload end of year messages for their students!
