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NHS Yearbook co-editors Katie Buttar, Hannah Loveless, Vivian Nash, and Haylie Srbinovich

 

NILES, OH – Students at Niles McKinley High School have placed third in a national yearbook contest sponsored by TreeRing, a technology company that offers yearbooks. This is TreeRing’s first year hosting this contest, which was open to those who use the service for yearbook creation. Entrants were tasked with choosing a yearbook hero and then creating a 60-second video explaining how that person helped or inspired them with the yearbook. NHS students working on the project included seniors, and yearbook co-editors Katie Buttar, Hannah Loveless, Vivian Nash, and Haylie Srbinovich. Collectively, they chose the students and staff of Niles McKinley High School as their yearbook hero. “There is no yearbook without the people in this building day in and day out,” said Buttar. “After a difficult year during the COVID pandemic we felt everyone here [at NHS] deserved to be recognized as a hero.”

The video the group submitted for the contest was filmed and edited in about ten days. It includes school administrators, staff, teachers, students and various student groups such as class officers, athletes, and National Honor Society members passing a yearbook to and from each other. In the background a voice names each of the groups while explaining the yearbook staff needs all of them to make their work successful. Judging for the Yearbook Hero Contest was based on the speaker’s clarity and storytelling ability about why their yearbook hero should be chosen. A panel of yearbook professionals, graphic designers, parents and journalism educators selected the winners. 

 “This was an ambitious project we set out to do in a short amount of time,” says Srbinovich. “It’s really nice to be recognized for all of our hard work.”

“This yearbook callout contest was prompted by our empathy and true appreciation for our yearbook editors,” said Kristina Cruz, Head of Marketing, TreeRing. “After the school year we had last year and the current ups and downs of this one, we are reminded how important it is to preserve our children’s memories. Given the various COVID safety protocols in schools, parent volunteers’ and teachers’ work is even more challenging and their dedication is admirable. We wanted to celebrate these editors’ hard work as well as let them know how much they matter.”

Niles High School yearbook staff co-advisor Caroline Hines says, “We are so proud of the Yearbook Staff who worked so hard to show that every Niles student and staff member are our “Yearbook Heroes."  They decided as a group that our annual yearbook would never be possible without the help of the entire high school community.”  NHS Yearbook staff co-advisor Sara McBride adds, “We are also very lucky to work with TreeRing, our yearbook publisher and sponsor of the contest.  It was amazing to be recognized nationally (and locally) for something that the students produced.  We are fortunate to have such creative and hard-working students at McKinley.”

A link to the students’ video can be found here.