2008 Woodie Awards
In tiny Union office, yearbook staff toils to preserve history
Robert Preliasco
Issue date: 10/31/07 Section: News
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10/31/07 - In the age of Facebook.com, another, more traditional method of storing college memories is perhaps overlooked: the college yearbook. After Facebook meets whatever end it may, or when students grow older and their carefully-tended online profiles fall into disrepair, the yearbook will remain as a record for the future.
Few people understand this better than Justine Metro, editor of "Renaissance," the University of Rhode Island yearbook.
"I think people should value their yearbooks a little bit more, because it represents the school and it represents you," Metro, a junior, said.
Metro and her staff of approximately 20 students work all year creating the book that will be read by alumni and their families long after they graduate.
In their small, windowless office in the Memorial Union, the "Renaissance" staff is literally surrounded by evidence that their work will create a historical record of life at URI. Yearbooks dating to 1899 line the shelves of the office, which together chronicle URI's development over time. The oldest books, called "The Grist," record the era when URI was a land-grant farming school with almost no buildings and certainly far fewer weekend activities than today.
As the university grew so did the yearbook, replacing text and drawings with photographs and more pages as graduating class sizes increased.
Metro said she likes to look at the old yearbooks and she is often surprised at how similar the URI experience has remained in recent years.
"When you look back at the old books you can see, 'wow, they did Springfest way back then?'"
Metro said that despite many similarities, one of the biggest changes to URI's campus and culture in recent years can also be seen in the yearbooks: the disappearance of students partying on campus at venues such as the former bar in the Ram's Den.
Although this activity can no longer be found on campus, there is still plenty for Metro and her staff to document. Staff members are responsible for working at least four hours per week and taking pictures at one event each month.
Few people understand this better than Justine Metro, editor of "Renaissance," the University of Rhode Island yearbook.
"I think people should value their yearbooks a little bit more, because it represents the school and it represents you," Metro, a junior, said.
Metro and her staff of approximately 20 students work all year creating the book that will be read by alumni and their families long after they graduate.
In their small, windowless office in the Memorial Union, the "Renaissance" staff is literally surrounded by evidence that their work will create a historical record of life at URI. Yearbooks dating to 1899 line the shelves of the office, which together chronicle URI's development over time. The oldest books, called "The Grist," record the era when URI was a land-grant farming school with almost no buildings and certainly far fewer weekend activities than today.
As the university grew so did the yearbook, replacing text and drawings with photographs and more pages as graduating class sizes increased.
Metro said she likes to look at the old yearbooks and she is often surprised at how similar the URI experience has remained in recent years.
"When you look back at the old books you can see, 'wow, they did Springfest way back then?'"
Metro said that despite many similarities, one of the biggest changes to URI's campus and culture in recent years can also be seen in the yearbooks: the disappearance of students partying on campus at venues such as the former bar in the Ram's Den.
Although this activity can no longer be found on campus, there is still plenty for Metro and her staff to document. Staff members are responsible for working at least four hours per week and taking pictures at one event each month.