NBC news:  yearbooks get a 21st-century makeover

St. Louis (KSDK) -- Graduation season is here. And for students, yearbooks are an annual rite of passage. But all the anticipation can lead to disappointment if there are few photos of yourself, but now there is a trend that puts you in control.

The new yearbook is actually about you and gets built online. Students can create custom pages online. The pages get printed only in their copy of the yearbook.

Companies that print these custom yearbooks are breaking tradition by letting each and every student have a say in the outcome. Students can put as many pictures of themselves as they want in their yearbook. Treering is one of the companies doing this.

Yearbook committees are still in charge of the core yearbook, but all students get two free pages to customize and can add more pages if they want. NewsChannel 5 knows of at least nine schools in Missouri trying out this new kind of yearbook, including McKinley Classical Junior Academy in St. Louis. Schools don't have to make a minimum order, which can save money if they don't sell enough. The cost is about the same as a traditional yearbook.

"It's cool because you're not limited to the number of memories in the yearbook," said Mykal Dean, a student. "You can pick whatever you want."

"I like to be in as many as I can because you don't want to get a yearbook and you're not in it," said Alyson Perry