Yearbook hero Bailyn Amos's leadership lessons

Treering Yearbook Heroes is a monthly feature focusing on yearbook adviser (and in this case, student editor) tips and tricks.

This year we at Treering called on all our schools’ parents, teachers, and students to nominate yearbook heroes in a first-ever peoples’ contest: #YearbookHero. The yearbook callout contest was prompted by our empathy and true appreciation for our yearbook editors.

Klamath Union High School senior Bailyn Amos won first place in the high school division; her team nominated her because she led them in problem-solving how to produce a yearbook in the 2020-2021 school year. From collecting photos from students to gaining valuable skills that will stick with her for years to come, Bailyn shares her experience leading her staff in creating a beautiful yearbook Klamath Union High School students will treasure for years to come. 

What does it mean to you to be Klamath Union High School’s Yearbook Hero?

Being a Yearbook Hero means that I have the ability to give back to my school and express how the school year was and all the good times we had. 

How did you go about getting the photo submission for the yearbook? How did you motivate your peers to get involved, especially those that weren’t involved in the media design class?

I motivated my peers by making every minute spent working a fun experience. We turned work into a mini party and played lots of music and watched lots of movies! With some of my friends who weren't in media design classes, I spent a lot of time on calls with them working at home. Treering made it really easy to work on the yearbook anywhere and at any time.

What advice would you give to students for gathering photos from parents? In your opinion, what are some tips for talking to parents about yearbook needs as it could be viewed as intimidating for some students? 

The school sent out a lot of notices and emails to not only students, but the parents as well informing them on deadlines and such. Treering was a great tool to help gather as many quality photos for the yearbook as possible. We also leveraged social media to ensure we had plenty to choose from!

What kind of leadership skills do you feel you implemented during the past year when leading yearbook creation? 

Starting off, I felt like I didn't have much leadership skills other than being loud. But by the end, I picked up so many different skills. I learned how to better communicate what needs to be done and how it can be done. I also feel more comfortable being in a leadership position and am so much more confident in my work, which is something I struggled with in the past.

How has being involved with the yearbook inspired your career choices? 

Being involved with the yearbook inspired me to pursue a career in teaching because it showed me how much I enjoyed teaching how everything worked and how to build up skills. Overall it was a lot of fun and something I can see myself doing in the future.