Yearbook and journalism are the two publications classes CKHS offers, the classes that create products for which the entire school is the audience. Whoever is in charge has a lot of responsibility, and with the 2016/2017 school year coming to a close, the current publications teacher, Susan Wachtman, has decided to pass on the torch to two new teachers. Jeff Schmitt will be taking on the creation of the yearbook, while Katherine Miller will be working on the Cougar Chronicle in journalism.

Wachtman decided to resign from teaching publications because, “Teaching publications has gotten a lot harder because of the lack of returning students. When I started 15 years ago, I could count on five or six students coming back for a second or even third year to help supervise the new staff. Running Start, AP classes, and increased graduation requirements are causing students to make other choices, and elective classes are suffering the loss.”

However, Wachtman was enthusiastic about the new teachers saying, “I’m really excited for the next few years to see what Mr. Schmitt and Ms. Miller are able to do. They are more tech savvy than I am and of course publications technology is completely different from the way it was when I started. I used to make trips to Costco every other week to drop off and pick up film and half the yearbook was in black and white!”

Wachtman will be advising them as she has gained lots of experience in the field over the years. “Getting a good staff is the most important part. Publications is not a class where you can just do your work and get your grade. It’s more like a sport, where the work of each individual impacts the whole team. Creating a publication can be a whole lot of fun if everyone is working together, but it can be a nightmare if just a couple of people are trying to do a good job and the rest don’t care.”

Schmitt, the man behind the school broadcast and the photography classes at CKHS, will be the one to take over the creation of the yearbook. He is filled with excitement and enthusiasm to change things up, just as he did with the school broadcast. “I have an excellent opportunity to completely reinvent the yearbook with my staff. We’re going to concentrate on superior photography, keeping it clean, to include every facet of the school, and hopefully not have a single photo missing from any student in the building. There will also be a huge surprise with this next yearbook. A huge, huge surprise, it’s changing the fundamental ideas behind a yearbook. I don’t get to use that word often either.”

Yearbook is a class Schmitt has been interested in for quite awhile, as he said, “I finally got the opportunity to take over yearbook, something that I’ve been interested in for a long time. Pretty much I am concentrating on the multimedia classes the school offers, and the ability to combine all multimedia facets throughout all my classes.” Taking over yearbook will be a heavy responsibility, and will take a lot of time and effort. “I will be a busy busy camper next year. I’m going to be changing some of my classes, and combining some of my classes, in two years, media & communications and photography will be combined into one class.”

Schmitt has no fears about teaching the class next year. “ I am definitely not scared, I seek out challenges, I want to make my time here exciting, and I like to be kept on the edge, that fine edge. I have lots of design experience, I graduated from a design school, I used to do graphic design intertwined with my photography business, and I did spend two years on the yearbook in my high school. However, this is when you had to cut out and paste the pages on the yearbook.”

Not even the daunting deadlines can hold him back, “I’ve been meeting deadlines my entire life, deadlines don’t scare me, work smart, have the right people for the right jobs, everything should be fine.” He already has a lot of people he can rely on for those jobs as he said, “I’ve already recruited a lot of kids. I’ve asked and recruited and it’s still open. I already have 16 kids from past and current classes. With plenty of room with additional people I don’t know already.”

Every summer before school starts, there is a camp held to teach upcoming yearbook students about how to produce the book and to pick the theme. Schmitt said, “I get to go to Kansas City, Missouri, which sounds like a horrible thing to do in the middle of summer. I am personally heading to an advisor yearbook camp, July 9th to the 12th, and then I’ll go straight to the airport and meet up with my students for the student yearbook camp the 13th, 14th, and 15th of July. I plan on taking at least four or five students with me. I have quite a bit of really excellent students coming in next year, and I can’t wait to meet other of the students I’ll have.”

Taking over the class will be a huge step for Schmitt, but he’ll be able to turn to Wachtman for help. “Mrs. Wachtman is a huge resource, and will be somebody I rely on going into the future as yearbook adviser. Who else has that many years of experience doing what she’s been doing?”

Miller, already an English teacher, will be the one to handle the Cougar Chronicle with the journalism class. She already shows passion as she said, “I’m incredibly excited! I really enjoy being involved with school programs and activities; I get to work with students in lots of different capacities. And I’m always up for a new challenge!” One of her biggest goals for the Chronicle will be to widen the audience. “I’d like for us to put out a great paper! In talking with some of my current students, it seems that readership is not quite where we’d like it to be–so I think a continuous goal will be to increase our readership. I bet next year’s staff will have some great ideas!”

She added that, “I think every class has a desire to add their own stamp to a production like the Chronicle, so I’m excited to see what next year’s class has in mind. The world of journalism is constantly evolving–and so will we. We will be adding a literature and arts magazine to our production responsibilities–and I’m looking forward to that!“

Miller is accustomed to the deadlines and sorts of things she will be facing by taking on this class. “As a high school student, I was the editor in charge of producing our literary magazine, so I’m familiar with the pressures of layout issues and deadlines! My favorite job (before I started teaching) was working in a restaurant–it’s never boring! Teaching is pretty similar in some aspects–situations are constantly evolving and there are lots of ‘irons in the fire.’ In teaching, student dynamics are always changing, and there’s always lots going on. I just really love work that keeps me moving and changing and challenging myself–and I know the journalism class will fulfill me in those regards. I have no direct experience with journalism, but I know there are a lot of great students who are already involved in the Cougar Chronicle’s production who are happy to share their expertise. And I will have a wonderful advisor in Mrs. Wachtman.”

Miller has her own share of fears about taking over journalism. “It’s part of being human, isn’t it–to be just a little scared of new things? But scary doesn’t equal bad! I think part of our natural growth of humans is trying new things, and journalism is my next new thing!” Miller has worked on recruiting students as well, as she said, “I’ve let my current students know that I’m making the transition into teaching Journalism next year–but it’s ultimately up to students to decide the classes that are the best fit for them. I do hope to have a good mix of returning students and new students. There are also several current and former students who have offered their support and help as we transition to next year, and I’m very grateful for that!”

Yearbook and journalism already have students in the class, so of course there will be a handful of returning staff. One of those students is junior Mission Reed. He said he was returning to journalism because, “Well I like writing, I think that’s definitely my most for sure favorite aspect. I really enjoy just interviewing people and getting what they say down and out there. The reason why I enjoy writing so much is because I have been doing it for years. It’s great to finally have a class to write about stuff that’s important to me, rather than just analyzing Shakespeare.”

Reed will also be hoping to try some things differently next year, “I think I want to definitely improve my deadlines and work ethic, because I get a lot of work done, but not when I should, I get a lot of work done right before its due. Hopefully by the end of my senior year, I’ll be getting everything done leagues before I need to, which should be good.” Reed will miss Wachtman as he said, “It sucks I won’t be able to have Mrs. Wachtman as a teacher again, but I’ve known Mrs. Miller since 8th grade, she’s the one that got me into writing in the first place. It’ll be fun to have her for a full year class.”