Yearbook Making Comeback for Class of 2006

By: Kimberly Osborne
Posted In: News

Last year David Spalding, PC lab technician and library support, graduated with Salve Regina University’s Class of 2005. Upon graduating, Spalding took many memories along with him into that frightening place that college students have coined “the real world,” but there is one thing that Spalding couldn’t take away from his college experience, a yearbook.

“I was upset because I didn’t get one for my year,” said Spalding. “A yearbook is something that I have always wanted.”

Spalding decided to turn his loss into the Class of 2006’s gain by serving as advisor for a club dedicated to raising awareness about the lack of a student yearbook at the university and creating a yearbook for the class of 2006, as well as, other future graduating classes. Spalding said that he is happy to have an opportunity to make a difference at Salve.

Spalding first got involved with the yearbook project when approached by senior Bryan Belmore, a 22 year old English Communication Studies major.

Last year, when Belmore heard that there was no yearbook, he decided to initiate an effort to have one when he graduated from salve. Belmore learned that Salve stopped funding a student yearbook due to a lack of student interest in the past. After talking with a member of SGA, Belmore decided to present his idea as a potential student activity.

The senior filled out a lot of paperwork.He wrote a constitution and a letter of intent. He produced a profile of the future club and found an advisor for the effort. Belmore also prepared a list of 25 signatures of students who would be interested in having a yearbook. After all of the preliminary work, Belmore stood before a committee made up of four student government officials and four faculty members to answer questions and go over issues concerning the club.

In October the yearbook club was approved. According to Belmore, there will definitely be a yearbook for the class of 2006.

“It’s [the yearbook effort] is going full speed,” said Belmore.

According to Belmore, the yearbook will be 84 pages long with eight full-color pages. There will be ad space in the back of the book for parents who want to have a personal message for their graduating sons or daughters printed in the book.

The yearbook will be hardcover with an embossed letter effect on the front. The club is currently talking with local photographers and plans on setting one up on campus somewhere so students can go and have their picture taken for the yearbook. So far, the price for the yearbook is estimated at about $50, but according to Belmore that number could go down.

Despite the success of the club, Belmore said that creating this yearbook has been a lot of work and that the club needs more help.

One person that Belmore has been able to recruit is his friend Daniel Neal, a senior majoring in Philosophy. Neal said that the club is very dedicated and sincerely wants to be successful in its efforts. Neal believes that yearbooks play an important role in graduation and while he may have felt that the yearbook club was fighting a losing battle when he initially got involved, he is excited that the idea of creating a yearbook has really showed promise.

“It would be lovely to be able to look back 30 years from now on fond memories with people you hadn’t thought of in a long time,” said Neal. “A yearbook instigates this”

Club member Sarah Iani, an English Communication Studies Major, is also happy to be part of such a project. Iani is pleased to have been able to witness the evolution of the yearbook.

“It [the yearbook club] is basically student run and we are starting from scratch,” said Iani. “We want the yearbook to be something really nice that students can hold onto for a long time.”