Well, You Just Expect Creativity From Top-10 School Yearbook

Crescenta Valley High School’s 1992 yearbook was titled, “Well, What Did You Expect?”

Indeed, the 40-member staff expected nothing less than to capture top honors for the second time in four years from the National Scholastic Press Assn.

“It’s definitely on your mind when you’re doing it,” Jennifer Beall said of the yearbook’s award-winning tradition. The 18-year-old senior worked on last year’s staff as a section editor and is this year’s co-editor.

“You want to live up to that potential,” Beall said.

“To me, it means that my students really strive to be the best,” said Linda Jensen, yearbook adviser. “They put a lot of time and a lot of effort (into the book).”

The 300-page “Talon” was one of two Southern California entries to earn a top 10 Pacemaker award out of 25 finalists, school officials said. Thousand Oaks High School was the other winner. A total of 800 high school yearbooks nationwide were judged. The top 10 Pacemakers were announced April 25 during a convention in Long Beach.

“It’s really an extraordinary achievement,” said Tom Rolnicki, executive director of the National Scholastic Press Assn. The Minnesota-based group annually critiques high school and college newspapers and yearbooks, and awards certificates and plaques for top honors.

Although Crescenta Valley High has been among the 25 finalists the past four years, only the 1989 yearbook had reached the top 10, Jensen said.

The seven-year adviser believes the 1992 edition scored well against other schools because of its creative theme, design and layout. Its aqua-colored cover features a profile of the school’s mascot, a falcon, with the theme scribbled in the bird’s eye.

“When they judge books, they’re looking for people who are going the extra mile, trying to do something different,” said Jensen, a biology teacher.

Last year’s co-editors, Andy Ahten and Bobby Jung, have graduated and could not be reached for comment.

But remnants of last year’s staff still at the school attribute their success to brainstorming at a fall camp, spending 15 late nights to meet deadlines and working 45 hours a month between September, 1991, and April, 1992.

“Our yearbook--it’s kind of like a work of art,” said 17-year-old senior Emily Mao, another section editor from last year’s staff.

Students came up with the theme while “talking about events that were not expected to happen,” Beall said. “You have to be a fortuneteller for the year.”

The tactic eventually worked when the unexpected continued, such as last spring’s riots, Magic Johnson’s retirement from professional basketball and boxer Mike Tyson’s rape conviction. The campus also went through an extended heat wave and experienced a bomb threat that forced the evacuation of students from classrooms, but turned into a false alarm.

“We pay more attention to real specific things,” said Beall, who designed the yearbook’s student life section. “A lot of schools, they sort of just let anything go. We’re pretty innovative with graphics.”

Another bonus to last year’s issue was a last-minute idea: a removable address book placed in a back-cover pocket with the title, “Expect a Call From Me.”

“I think it helped because it was really original. It tied our whole theme together,” Mao said.