During the summer of 2023, Stoughton High School’s yearbook class switched to a different software and publisher by their current sales company, Midwest Scholastic. These changes were initiated completely by Midwest Scholastic, hopefully resulting in a more timely yearbook for their students.
Pictavo has been the most recent publisher for the SHS Yearbook until the switch in the summer. Their printing turnaround time wasn’t meeting the needs of the Yearbook, meaning that the staff would need to send in their final copy months in advance to receive copies in time to be able to hand them out at the end of the school year. This prevented them from having current photos, and they had to use outdated material in their yearbooks.
Under the control of Midwest Scholastic, a new publishing and printing company has been introduced to SHS Yearbook, Friesens. Friesens was chosen by Midwest Scholastic because of its closer location to the school, resulting in more money saved for both the sales company and the school.
“For [Midwest Scholastic’s] needs, they’ll just digitally send this yearbook off and within 10 or 15 business days, they’ll just print the book; instead of two, three months turnaround like it was before,” Jason Brabender, the current Yearbook Advisor, said. This longer deadline will allow the yearbook to include photos and features not included in past yearbooks, such as prom photos from the respective year and up-to-date spring sports team photos.
“A big point of contention, I think, for a lot of people who order a yearbook is that our spring section isn’t up to date because we have to publish it before we get to the spring sports season,” Chief Editor Lily Tuttle said. “But, now with this new publisher, we are getting our yearbooks in under two weeks.” In addition to this development, yearbook pages will be more detailed and allow for more intricate designs, all due to the new software, Friesens.
“There may [also] be higher quality photos,” Tuttle said.
Even though we’ll receive up-to-date spring photos this year, many seniors rely on the succeeding yearbook to obtain photos of them playing sports or dancing at prom. “We fully intend to honor last year’s participants by including their season and/or activity along with what will be considered ‘current events,’” Tuttle said.
Under the leadership of Tuttle and Brabender, our yearbook will include more updated, timely features without the stress of a constricting time limit. Scan the QR code below or in SHS hallways to order this year’s yearbook.
