Campus Life :: Organizations -
Yearbook
About Whispering Hills
Fletcher Academy’s yearbook Whispering Hills provides students and faculty alike with priceless memories of their experiences while at Fletcher Academy. Yearbook has turned into more than just a club of “photography nerds” and “journalism wanna-be’s.” Some of the practical skills that you’ll encounter in yearbook class (yes, it’s a class and you can receive half a unit of elective credit) include: photography, digital image editing, archiving, reporting (journalism), layout and design, graphic design, advertising, marketing, distribution, team work, and brainstorming.
In addition to the traditional hard copy yearbook, Fletcher Academy also produces a multi-media program called Looking Back that provides viewers with video clips and still photos set to music that capture some of the events and memories of the previous year. With the purchase of a powerful Mac Pro equipped with Final Cut Pro, student-producer Salathiel L., in conjunction with volunteer videographers and photographers produced Fletcher Academy’s first ever Looking Back DVD entitled “Now is the Time” for distribution among students and faculty. This project was truly a monumental task for one individual, but the finished product is fantastic!
Fletcher Academy continues to strive to stay on the cutting edge of technology by providing our students with the finest in traditional yearbook production as well as interactive yearbook DVDs.
Advantages of Being in Yearbook
As students with very hectic schedules contemplating what extracurricular classes to take, you may be interested to know the following:
- High school students who were members of a journalism staff had higher grade-point averages in English, social studies, math, and science than students who were not members of a journalism staff.
- High school students who were members of a journalism staff scored in the 81st percentile in the English portion of the ACT test. High school students who were not members of a journalism staff scored in the 69th percentile. Students with journalism staff experience also did better on the social studies portion of the test.
- High school students who were members of a journalism staff were more involved in extracurricular activities such as clubs, student government and were elected captain of a team more often than students who were not members of a journalism staff. They were also more likely to take an advanced English course and to volunteer in the community.
- College students who were members of a high school journalism staff had higher grade-point averages in their first college English courses than students who were not members of a high school journalism staff.
- College students who were members of a high school journalism staff had higher overall grade-point averages than students who were not members of a high school journalism staff.
- College students who were members of a high school journalism staff wrote better on the ACT COMP (College Outcome Measures Test) than students who were not members of a high school journalism staff.
- Journalism kids do better in 10 of 12 major academic areas.
- Journalism kids write better in 17 of 20 comparisons of collegiate writing.
- Journalism kids are ‘doers’ in schools—they’re more involved in co-curricular and community activities.
- Journalism students make better high school and college grades than their peers with newspaper or yearbook staff experience.
All statements in this section are based on Jack Dvorak’s book entitled, Journalism Kids Do Better: What Research Tells Us about High School Journalism.
If you’re interested in joining the yearbook team for the 2008-2009 school year, we encourage you to come by Mr. Carter’s office in March for an application.
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Yearbook Goals and Objectives
Staff Positions Available
- Editor
- Layout Editor
- Layout Staff
- Copy Editor
- Copy Staff
- Photographers
- Photo Manager
- Business Manager
- Business Staff
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Our Equipment
Fletcher Academy has been blessed with the means to provide our students with cutting-edge technology to assist them in yearbook production. We proudly use Canon, Sony, and Apple digital imaging equipment. Following is a sampling of some of our equipment:
- Canon 20D DSLR (8 Mega pixel DSLR)
- Canon Rebel XTi (6 Mega pixel DSLR)
- Canon Power Shot Pro (8 Mega pixel Advanced point-and-shoot)
- Canon 24-85 Lens
- Canon 75-300 IS Lens
- Pro Master 28-200 Lens
- Canon 28-70 f/2.8 Lens
- Canon 70-200 f/2.8 Lens
- Canon 420 EX Flash
- Canon 580 EX Flash
- Stroboframe Flash Bracket
- Smith-Victor Studio Lighting
- Photoflex Strobes, Softboxes and Umbrellas.
- Sony HDR-SR1 High Definition Camcorder
- Canon DV Camera
- Mac Pro Tower
- Final Cut Pro
- ACDSee Pro
- Photoshop CS2
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Are You Missing Yearbooks?
If you have misplaced or lost yearbooks due to natural disasters, we might be able to help! We currently have an excess of yearbooks from many years. If you need to replace your yearbook(s) or would just like an extra one, please contact Mr. Carter at (828) 651-0047. Replacement yearbooks are free. However, a suggested donation of $20 would be greatly appreciated as it will be used to enhance the yearbook program at Fletcher Academy. If you need your yearbook shipped to you, a flat book rate of $5.00 will be necessary for delivery.
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We Are Missing Yearbooks
If you have extra copies of Whispering Hills yearbooks from the years of 1963, 1985, 1987, or 1990, we would greatly appreciate you donating your extra copies.
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Community Photo Upload Box
Were you at a recent school event where you took a lot of photos and want to see them potentially published in the yearbook? There are three ways to send your photos to the yearbook staff:
The user ID is: 1150440
The password is: Fletcher
Notice: The yearbook staff does not guarantee that the photos you submit will be published in any Fletcher Academy publication. The Whispering Hills staff reserves the right to deny publication of photos that do not meet the moral and photographic integrity that we strive for.
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