The La Salle Yearbook

I recently visited the blog of an acquaintance from my La Salle Yearbook years. Seeing the new yearbooks released by the La Salle Yearbook Office always gives me an overwhelming sense of pride in being a former member of the Editorial Board. My stint as EIC was one of the craziest. And the Ed Board of 2003 was the wackiest ever! Walang tatalo sa exploits namin hahahaha!

Those were months of feverish work, seemingly insurmountable deadlines, countless challenges that hounded every step of yearbook production, countless overnights spent poring over countless lay-outs, pages, pictures, and text just to ensure that what we will be spitting out would be at least at par, if not better, than the previous yearbooks.

Those were months making new acquaintances, gaining new friends, making new enemies, seeing people in a different light. It's amazing to think that a bunch of strangers could accomplish so much working together in such a short period of time. The work was never easy. As graduating students, we were juggling classes, requirements, theses, projects and yearbook matters. As individuals, we were treading the treacherous arena of interpersonal relations -- oftentimes sparking conflicts among certain individuals. As an institution, we the Ed Board also had to contend with the complicated and sometimes frustrating process of reaching out to the other offices in the process of ensuring that our yearbook gets to be made and delivered on time. But despite the challenges though, those of us who survived emerged wiser, stronger, and closer...

Little did we know that as we were going about the task of compiling the collective memories of our batch that we would be making memories of our own...I would never forget the overnights spent playing Warcraft III rather than doing the assigned tasks for the night -- then rushing to finish whatever we had planned in the early hours of the morning. The Last In/First Out Policy applied to us. Usually Yearbook people were the last people to get inside the campus(when everyone else was leaving), and the first people to leave in the early morning (when everyone else were coming in for their classes)...Our theme became an excuse to travel around Negros, from the outskirts of towns and barrios to the foot of Mt. Kanlaon -- we were pilgrims searching for inspiration from the land that is Negros...

Indeed, the Yearbook Office became a part of our lives. It was more than just an office: it was a second home, a gaming station, a call center (no wonder our Finance Ed was fuming over the phone bills...), a conference center (whenever we felt the urge to conduct a meeting hehehe), an airconditioned sweatshop, a tambayan for a lot of staffers (and non-staffers even; it was amazing the number of people that could fit inside the office), a boarding house (Liwanaaaaaag!), a harem/brothel/motel for some (ehem), a guidance office (crying sessions!), a crisis center (shouting sessions!),an impromptu ombudsman center (secret...hehe). For a brief moment, it became a microcosm of sorts, our own little world -- our universe even -- for us who were entrusted the task of yearbook making. It was the best and the worst of times...and I would always look back at those memories with wonder and pride...

That was a brief look back at SY 2002-2003 and the memories of the Yearbook Ed BOard 2003. I could give you more juicy stories...but then I'd have to kill you hehehehe

By the way, all this ranting and raving was inspired by Daryl's blog: http://neofolio.blogspot.com and there's a link at the left side of this blog. Do check it out. Even if you're not a Yearbook "person" you would still appreciate the artistry of the yearbook lay-outs and the photos courtesy of Neominds. Samples below:

The La Salle Yearbook 2007 Interactive CD: Hues of Possibilities






A few samples of images from Neominds