It's 2009. You’re probably listening to Lady Gaga, talking about the "Twilight" movie and obsessively updating your Facebook status. During that time, the world was standing on the edge of a massive shift at a time when posting your daily routine on social media was favored more than physical photo albums and printed memories.
But while the rest of the world was busy logging in, a small, determined crew of students and professors at Frostburg State University was trying to hit the presses. By fighting the rise of social media and fulfilling a 20-year long hiatus, this team of students and staff was taking on the challenge of resurrecting their university’s forgotten yearbook.
Then-students Ashley Daniels ‘11, Hope McMurtrie ‘12, Robin Pubbi ‘10, Stephanie Rulle and Stacy Walker ‘11 took on the task of fulfilling a lingering university publishing contract and bringing the FSU yearbook back to life after two decades.
The 2009 Nemacolin yearbook was titled "On the Prowl" in proud FSU colors. The book commemorated the classes of Fall 2008 and Spring 2009 in black and white photos. Despite social media riding on the incoming wave, this labor of love was put together with absolutely zero blueprints, style guides or digital files passed down from previous years.
“Putting this together was simpler just because we kind of already had ideas,” said Daniels who is currently associate director of student life at FSU. “And once you create a couple layout templates, they become more like a plug-in.”
Daniels and her tiny team couldn’t afford to reinvent the wheel, so they relied heavily on pre-built publisher layout templates to give them an idea of what a yearbook should look like and build the yearbook from scratch.
To the team, producing the yearbook was an uphill battle against a changing era. With social media popular at the time, students were hesitant to invest in a physical book, as they were already keeping up with their friends online.
“We tried to schedule a place where seniors could come in and get in their cap and gown to get their picture taken,” Daniels said. “But there weren’t enough people who came in to get their picture taken. If we were to wait until we got the pictures from graduation, we wouldn’t have got the yearbooks until late.”
Even Mass Communications Professor Dr. John Lombardi recalled the little interest the students had.
“I strongly suspect that this was because there was no history on campus among students at that time of having a yearbook.” Lombardi said. “Also, I think many college seniors thought they were too ‘grown up’ to have pictures taken for a yearbook. I think it felt too ‘high school-ish' to many.”
Daniels had to lean on her prior experience as a high school yearbook editor alongside her high school friend, McMurtrie, and her roommate Rulle. When building these pages one by one, they received help and guidance from faculty and administration. Lombardi and Communications faculty member Dr. Brent Kice assisted with the team within their areas of expertise. Meanwhile, Bill Mandicott, former assistant vice president for Student and Community Involvement, provided significant assistance by coordinating with student groups to track down much needed photos for the yearbook.
“We were fortunate to have students with high school yearbook experience involved.” Lombardi said. “They really seemed to value the overall opportunity to get it going again.”
Whether it was overcoming the lack of senior photos or battling the massive wave of social media, the 2009 yearbook prevailed. The proudest moment Daniels can recall wasn’t just about perfecting the yearbook; it was about getting the book to print. Because of FSU’s dream team, the yearbook was published successfully and became the last yearbook to be published, to date.
“Overall, I remember the experience being a positive one.” Lombardi said. “We certainly hit some bumps in the road, but the folks who were involved did a great job.”
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You can check out the 2009 and all of Frostburg State University’s yearbooks online.
