The yearbook is on.
That's the message the current staff of The Seal, the College's yearbook, is projecting this year as they put last year's problems behind them.
"We are right on schedule," Amanda Burd, junior communication studies major and editor-in-chief of The Seal, said.
Last year, there was some question as to whether or not the yearbook would be published due to financial issues. The Student Finance Board only funds the yearbook's advertising costs, so printing costs must be funded from yearbook sales alone.
According to Burd, The Seal's monetary problems were eventually resolved when the yearbook staff used some of its reserve funding and advertised to increase sales.
Burd says she expects the 2007 yearbooks to arrive on campus by the end of the month.
Burd, who was the organization's section editor last year, said the yearbook's staff has made changes this year to avoid the problems they ran into last year.
One of those changes is the addition of a marketing committee, which is currently comprised of about three students and may grow in the future.
According to Burd, this committee was created to allow the yearbook staff to start doing publicity for the book right away.
Last year, one of the problems the group faced was low sales numbers, which only picked up late in the year after a publicity campaign by the group. This year, Burd hopes to start getting the word out and creating interest in the books early.
"The message coming out of this is that we are moving forward with the lessons of last year," Burd said.
Another change she noted was that the group plans to slightly reduce the number of pages in the book, though they will not sacrifice content to do so.
Burd said one of the ways they will do this is by having four or five pictures on a page where they may have only placed two last year.
"We need to be responsible with our production goals," Burd said.
Burd added that this year The Seal is trying to work more closely with other organizations on campus to gather content for the yearbook. She said organizations who have an event coming up can e-mail The Seal at yearbook@tcnj.edu and the yearbook will send a photographer.
Burd said the group is also accepting pictures from organizations. She said any group can send its pictures to the yearbook, though she can't guarantee all the photos will be used in the final product.
"The more pictures we have the more ownership the students can have of this book," Burd said.
She said the group has already started work on the 2008 yearbook. The Seal has sent photographers to events like Lollanobooza and has contacted its printing company, Jostens in Ivy Land, Pa.
Burd said she expects to see an announcement about senior pictures in about two weeks and a second announcement for "ads for grads" within the next month.
She said overall, this year comes down to learning from last year and making a yearbook that commemorates the College and the senior class's time here.
"We're definitely moving forward," she said. "We're really trying to showcase what makes (the College) special."
