No Funds for Class of 2005 Yearbook

By: Jennifer Bladykas
Posted In: News

Standing in the pouring rain, Hannah Miller tugs at her Salve sweatshirt as she talks with prospective students. It is her last Connections day as a tour guide and the reminder sets her into a spiral of chatting with the other graduating seniors.

Smiles, stories and memories are exchanged and someone asks when the yearbook will be coming out. Miller sighs and explains to the unknowing classmate that the class of 2005 will be without a yearbook for their time at Salve.

“It’s disappointing to us to think there won’t be the yearbook for [the class of 2005],” says Kristin Stahl, the Director of Alumni/Parent Programs at Salve Regina University.

“Unfortunately, not doing the yearbook means us being able to do our jobs,” follows Michelle Brais Menard, Assistant Director of Alumni/Parent Programs.

For the past six years, the Alumni/Parent Programs office at Salve Regina University has been providing the budget, materials and work towards the University’s annual yearbook. After the Student Activities Office dropped the yearbook from their budget, Stahl said the Alumni office decided to take the project on.

“We didn’t want to see it lost,” says Stahl, sitting in her office on the third floor of Ochre Court. Visibly empathetic and upset about the situation, both women explain that for the past six years, they were never given specific funds for the yearbook. So, out of their own printing budget, they were providing the costs and manpower to publish a yearbook for graduating seniors.

For the class of 2005, the problem began the summer before fall semester, when Stahl and Menard realized that they would not have enough funds to cover all their printing needs for the current 12,000 alumni they mail to as well as providing a yearbook for the current graduating class.

“We really tried to do everything we could, but it just felt like there was no option-and now it’s too late. No matter how much it would cost, these are our memories, they’re priceless and now we won’t have that,” says Miller, who was staying over the summer and realized then that she’d have to do something.

Working with a friend, Miller came up with different ideas for cutting the cost of the yearbook, including putting senior pictures on disc. However, the Alumni office couldn’t handle both the cost and manpower another year, while still producing a quality yearbook.

That’s when Stahl and Menard went to the Student Government Association and told them that they couldn’t take the project on.

However, not to leave the students without resources, the staff at the Alumni office met with their yearbook representative and offered a minimum cost to SGA, should they take on the project.

“It was one of those things that time played a huge portion with everything else that was going on,” says Stephen Kavanagh, President of SGA. Like the Alumni Office, Kavanagh says that the time and work for the yearbook was just not an option for Student Government

Students like Michell Fontes, a senior, feels that the school should have been responsible for alerting the class of the budget decision and the inability for both SGA and the Alumni Office to produce a yearbook.

“I would have thought it best if they had invited all of the seniors to O’hare one night and told us face to face that we wouldn’t have a yearbook and why. That way if anyone was really willing to put up the time and effort to do it, they could’ve spoken up then,” says Fontes, who had worked on the yearbook in her high school and was willing to put the effort into her college one if she had known.

Students like Fontes are not the only ones affected by the lack of yearbook for the class of 2005. Susan Edward, the manager at John Corbett Photography in Middletown expressed similar disappointment in the decision to not produce a yearbook.

“It’s a big job-we did close to 200 students last year,” says Edwards, who said that the amount of students looking for senior portraits has significantly declined for the class of 2005.

“We miss it and we miss the kids, you know? We have kids that age too.”

However, Kavanagh and others are quick to point out that there are other options for the class of 2005. Kavanagh explains how SGA Senator’s Jessica Pezzone and Tony Vellucci worked to bring Facebook to Salve.

The website, which connects students from different Universities through profiles and pictures, acts as a tool to connect alumni and students.

“They are currently investigating whether or not alumni will have access to the program. If so, this will allow those who are registered, the opportunity to stay connected with members of their graduating class,” says Kavanagh.

Students also have an opportunity to view current pictures of their classmates at the Senior Week event sponsored by Campus Ministry called Remembrance, which will take place on Sunday, May 8 at 6 p.m. in Ochre Court. Students may submit pictures to Jose Del Val in Campus Ministry.

Although these two alternatives do not replace the yearbook, students like Kavanagh are trying to remain optimistic. “As times change we all need to adapt. As unfortunately today may mark the end of the Regina Maris (University Year Book), it may mark the beginning of a new tradition.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: There is still the chance to take senior portraits for all interested students. Edwards, of John Corbett Photography says that packages range in price and size and to email her for quotes. Students may contact John Corbett Photography at 401-846-4861 or at jc@corbettphotography.net.