Reunion Yearbook
REUNION YEARBOOK (Typically for the 50th, 25th, and 10th Reunions)
The Reunion yearbook is a special feature for the 10th, 25th and 50th Reunion classes. The yearbook serves as a memento for your classmates and generates enthusiasm, which often translates into a decision to attend Reunion in June. Preparing a yearbook is not difficult, but it does take time and attention to detail. The golden rules of a successful yearbook are: include as many classmates as possible, get their information listed correctly, and mail the printed book to the entire class well in advance of Reunion!
Class leaders choose a yearbook chair, who recruits a committee if necessary (this is recommended for the more complex 50th Reunion book). The chair writes a letter to the class soliciting submissions with explicit instructions for sending it. You can send a plain or pre-printed sheet that your classmates can fill out and return to you or your staff liaison. It’s very important to establish clear format guidelines for the submissions before soliciting your classmates!
Volunteers collect letters, surveys, and/or photographs from as many classmates as possible well in advance of the Reunion and put them together in a “yearbook” to be sent to the class. The books, which encourage attendance, make fascinating reading and wonderful keepsakes. Classes decide upon the format and material of the yearbook. Alternative production methods including electronic and online publication are available.
Some classes include essays about or photos of their years at Bates. Some include an introductory letter from the class president or yearbook editor. Some classes include tributes to those in the class who have died since graduation. Please secure permission before submitting any copyrighted material borrowed from newspapers, magazines, etc. Your programming liaison will work with you to collect fun information for your yearbook, such as headlines from the Bates Student when you were on campus, “Then and Now” comparisons of campus, and historical highlights of the era when you were at Bates.
It is up to your committee to decide how to fashion the book. Consider the following questions: What are the needs of your class and how will they best be served? What is realistic given the size and energy level of your committee? What do you want the book to look like? The Office of Alumni and Parent Engagement has samples of previous Reunion yearbooks.
Once you have decided what to do and mailed your initial request to classmates for copy and photos, it’s important to keep this project alive in the minds of your classmates. The yearbook chair or committee makes follow-up calls to the class to encourage submissions (remember: personal contact is the number one reason alumni come back to Reunion). Information about the yearbook project should be included in communications from the class throughout the winter and early spring.
The Office of Alumni and Parent Engagement works with an out-of-house designer who does the does the layout of the document. The 50th Reunion Yearbook is usually outsourced to a local printer. All other books are typically produced in-house by Bates.
Yearbooks will be mailed to everyone in your class (including spouses of deceased classmates) with a copy of the registration form to those who have not signed up for the weekend. The Office of Alumni and Parent Engagement will pay for the cost of printing and binding the 10th, 25th and 50th Reunion yearbooks (up to $10 per copy). Other classes wishing to publish a yearbook will include these costs in their Reunion fees. However, the Office of Alumni and Parent Engagement will pay to mail Reunion yearbooks to all classmates.