New measures have been put into place to ensure the proper production and distribution of the 2002-2003 Johns Hopkins yearbook, the Hullabaloo, after last year's yearbook was a total of four months overdue.
The 2001-2002 yearbook was finally completed during the first week of September and is still at the publisher.
"The yearbook is undergoing major restructuring," said Assistant to the Dean of Student Life and Yearbook Advisor Bill Smedick. "Student Council, the senior class, as well as the overall administration are going to be playing a much more active role from now on. In fact, just last week the senior class officers met with the yearbook staff and designed the 2002-2003 cover."
Smedick, who has been the Hopkins Hullabaloo advisor for the past 10 years, admitted that last year's situation was the worst he had seen.
"I was just worried about the long-term stability those circumstances would endanger and took it upon myself to take direct control and ensure nothing of the sort would happen," said Smedick.
According to Smedick, the problems in meeting the deadline began in November with the resignation of last year's editor due to illness. When it became clear in late February that the editor could not make the deadlines due to medical problems, Smedick took the project on himself, arranging for senior portraits to be taken and sending the announcements in an e-mail through the Student Council. During this time period, he and Marissa Adelman, the SAC publication liaison, asked for volunteers through publication groups but did not receive any offers.
During June, four students were finally recruited through job advertisements by the Student Activities Commission (SAC) to put together the book over a two-month stretch of time. Parts of their salaries were funded through the Office of the Dean of Student Life.
There are about 330 orders for yearbooks, half of which are from former students who have already graduated. The current expected date of completion is early November.
Smedick's defense on the lateness of the deadline is the claim that for the past few years, the yearbook was never scheduled to come out by graduation so that spring activities could be included.
The four students who were hired part-time during the summer were Emily Smedick, Smedick's daughter, who had worked on the yearbook in high school and helped with general layout and the senior section, Sheryl Kane and Amanda Owens, who both graduated from Hopkins in May 2002, and Elise Lanio, a local incoming freshman eager to familiarize herself with the campus before September.
Kane, who worked for 90 hours on the Hullabaloo this past summer, credited Homewood photography and the News-Letter for their help with much needed photographs.
"Homewood Photography was amazing -- they burned us CDs that contained literally thousands of pictures, let me look through boxes and boxes of negatives and definitely contributed more than 50 percent of the photos in the yearbook," said Kane.
Jostens Publishing Company is in the third of a five-year contract with the Hullabaloo.
Jostens representative Chuck Sabio, who comes to Hopkins twice a month to observe and help out in production, said that this is a common occurrence among college yearbooks.
"There are some schools that are years behind their deadlines," said Sabio. "I think the revamping that is going on this year will really make it a success. It's more of a cyclic thing -- two years ago there was a substantial staff."
"The toughest part is getting volunteers," said Smedick. "It just really depends from year to year".
When asked how he thinks the turnout of the book will be, Smedick answered, "I think overall depending on the circumstances, it will be still pretty good book. There are gaps that I am not happy about, such as the bare coverage of Greek life - but then again it is a learning experience."
Owens said, "Considering it was just the four of us and the timeframe we were given, I am pretty proud of what we got accomplished and the fact that I was able to be a part of it".
Already, Lanio has been instrumental in organizing an alliance with the SAC and Student Council to supply pictures and make sure that the different organizations know about the yearbook. Lanio, who is the only paid member of the yearbook, will head a small core staff compromised of about five to 10 students. Additional material for the yearbook will be contributed by various campus groups.
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