By Chloe Washington

SAN JOSE, CALIF— Silver Creeks’ yearbook sales have significantly decreased in the past few years. It makes us wonder if producing yearbooks is still valuable to our school community. I believe yearbooks should be kept around as they are a part of the American high school experience. 

Mr. Head, one of the advisors for the yearbook club stated, “Historically speaking, I spoke to the past two yearbook teachers that came before me, King and Butler, and they said we’ve never sold over 500 copies…” On top of that, out of the 300 copies we have ordered this year, only 100 have been sold thus far. So, given that we have roughly 2,500 students at Silver Creek and only 100 yearbooks have been purchased this 23-24 school year, it may be a waste of time and money to continue creating and ordering yearbooks. This has people wondering why sales in recent years have been so low. 

If we think about it, the American high school culture of getting yearbooks signed at the end of the school year by friends and teachers has kind of disappeared. This used to be the main reason why people bought yearbooks. To hold mementos of that past school year and the people who made it special. Now, with the heavy use of social media, it may be that students don’t feel the need to say goodbye for the summer in yearbook notes considering we all stay connected over the phone regardless.

Another issue might be publicity. The yearbook club might put out a few words on the announcements but no one ever fully listens to the announcements anyway. There are rarely ever posters or flyers promoting it. Even if posters are being put up, no one pays attention to those either. Emails are sent out on occasion but I know many students never check their email. Johnny Escalante, a senior at Silver Creek says, “In my time here I haven’t ever bought a yearbook. I just don’t ever hear about them until it’s too late, to be honest.” There has to be a better way for people to hear about yearbooks being out for sale, as well as an easier way to purchase.

Even if someone has the motive to pre-order a yearbook, it’s so hard to find the link to buy it. Students normally find all the information for school stuff on the school’s Instagram account, club Instagram accounts, and rarely the school website. Meliah Arellano says, “When I tried to buy a yearbook last year online, I remember it was hard to find an official link to buy it from so I just didn’t.” Whoever runs the school’s Instagram account isn’t active enough as it is when it comes to updating students about events, changed schedules, etc. Along with that, the school website is rarely updated either and it’s just finicky and hard to navigate. There is a Silver Creek High School Yearbook Instagram page but It’s not frequently updated and the link in their bio is not updated/working. 

It’s sad to see this American high school experience disappear but we still have time to bring it back. I just don’t think students are thinking about the end of the school year the way that they used to. As a senior at Creek, I can say that I’ve never bought a yearbook in the past three years I’ve been here; not because I didn’t want to but because they make it kind of difficult to get your hands on them efficiently. With it being my last year, I want to get one so I can look back at it and all of my class when I get older.

Hopefully, Silver Creek students, as well as the Yearbook staff, can all pull it together this year so we can all take home memories of the 23-24 school year.

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