Some of our own yearbook staff members from publications went on a field trip to the Herff Jones printing plant from  Sept. 19-20 in Edwardsville, Kan. to get a better understanding on what all goes into the making of a yearbook. Seniors Jayce Haun, Rhett Cunningham and Alix Queen and junior Liz Hayes were all yearbook members who attended the trip. 

“I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into,” Haun said. “But what I got out of it was a lot of knowledge and new information that I didn’t have before.”

Haun went on to elaborate about the amount of people who were involved in making the yearbook. It all comes together at the Herff Jones plant. Haun said he was surprised when he discovered how many people are all involved working for the yearbook to get published and printed.

“So they had 150 people working there that day, but on a busy day it’s around 400,” Haun said. During the busy season in the spring when schools are completing their yearbooks, the workers at Herff are working literally 24/7 and their job never stops when a book needs to be published. 

Rhett Cunningham is the editor-in-chief who spends a lot of time inside and outside the classroom, contributing to the yearbook. Cunningham helps manage people reaching their deadlines and a lot of the time management aspect when it comes to yearbook. He spoke about what he took away from his time when he was able to learn more about the production of yearbooks with the people at Herff.

“One of my biggest takeaways was how much our book gets worked on by so many different people all from different backgrounds, from different positions in the warehouse and they all come together to play a big part on our book,” Cunningham said. He discussed how he got to talk to some of the workers at Herff who were all very nice and had great work ethic.

“I feel more inspired,” Cunningham said, “because the pages I’m working on, there’s lot of people that will see it and the people at Herff Jones were so nice that it makes me want to bring that energy back and put that into my yearbook.”

Overall, Cunningham is hoping to use his new knowledge on how the Herff plant runs to take that back and bring that energy back into the classroom.

The four students who attended the trip agreed the experience was useful and inspiring. They all took away they needed to make sure they reach their deadlines, so all Herff employees can effectively do their job and give us all the yearbook we all love. 

Gallery | 7 Photos

LHS Publications

"Lazer" Bob demonstrates how he cuts glass to create specialized yearbook covers.