Ask Mike

In this episode, hosts Mike Taylor, Jim Jordan, and Sabrina Schmitz emphasize cultivating strong relationships among yearbook staff, administration, parents and the community. They share insights on team-building, communication with administrators, engaging parents and seeking mentorship from industry experts for journalistic excellence. Available on YouTube and podcast platforms.

Welcome to That Yearbook Podcast, the series where yearbook experts Mike Taylor, CJE, Jim Jordan and Sabrina Schmitz, CJE, take us on a delightful journey through their connections to yearbooks and the fascinating world of student journalism. The trio shares their unique stories and experiences that have shaped their perspectives on creating amazing yearbooks. To watch this podcast, visit our YouTube link! 

We're close to the end of the year now, and yearbook editors are preparing to hand over the torch to the next generation. In the latest episode of the Ask Mike podcast, host Mike Taylor chatted with Yvette and Gabbie, soon-to-graduate yearbook editors at Patricia E. Paetow High School in Katy, Texas. Both editors have been on yearbook staff since seventh grade. They call each other their best friend. And they, along with adviser Sara Gonzales, have helped create a supportive yearbook environment that allows their staff to thrive. 

Cortney Wood is in her first year of advising yearbook at Chisholm Trail High School in Fort Worth, Texas. She's new to advising but has experience working on yearbook staffs in high school and college. Copy editor Sydney Hawkins also joined the conversation. In this interview with host Mike Taylor, CJE, Cortney and Sidney share their experiences creating a yearbook in the 2023 school year. 

As Anna, Halle and Gabby work to finish their yearbook, they're also preparing for a significant absence. Host Mike Taylor sat down with the three editors from Minnetonka, Minnesota, to discuss their roles in the yearbook team, their interests, and how they fill their time outside of yearbook. They share the the highs and lows of yearbook photography, event coverage, learning new software, and dealing with deadlines. The conversation also touches on the good relationship the yearbook staff has with the school administration and how they have earned their trust.

In this episode, taped live from Elite Weekend in Orlando, Mike sits down with the editors of Boone High School to discuss their yearbook. 

In this episode, Mike chats with Faith Parksinson, Editor-in-chief at A. W .Dreyfoos School of the Arts in West Palm Beach, Florida. Their chat comes fresh off an Elite Weekend they both attended, and Mike and Faith discuss what was learned in the busy three days in Orlando. 

This week, Mike Taylor is in a different part of North Carolina as he continues his interviews from all over the country. In this episode, Mike speaks to Adviser Lynn Bare and the staff of the Southern Alamance High School yearbook. The Southerner's Editor-in-Chief Noel, Assistant Editor Kinley, Sports Editor Lexie, Business Manager Emma, and staffers Xander, Abigail,  Maddie, Giselle, Adriana and Lexie chat with Mike about all kinds of things. They share how they try to bring as much of their school culture and “what makes us us” into the book every year, like coverage of the strong FFA program at their school. They discuss challenges they've faced in recent years. Their business manager discusses selling books, senior tributes and business ads, connecting with the community, and dealing with the occasional difficult customer. And they share their favorite teambuilding activities – and one involves marshmallows and spaghetti. 

Ask Mike is traveling the country this season! The last episode was from Maine, and for episode two Mike traveled south to North Carolina to talk to staff members from Athens Drive Magnet School. Co-editors-in-chief Zoe and Greta and Head of Design Nevaeh shared their thoughts on creating a yearbook for the 2022/2023 year. 

Ask Mike is back! This season, host Mike Taylor will chat with yearbook staffs all over the United States, starting with Presque Isle, Maine, in the far northeast corner of the country. Listen in to hear about the 2023 yearbook plans for Presque Isle High School, ideas for coverage that you can use, and more information about potatoes than you'd expect in a yearbook podcast. 

“Every book that has ever been done at Northwest, if you'll go look at it you'll find the fingerprints, the thumbprints, of everyone on this podcast,” yearbook adviser Susan Massy shared early on in the latest episode of the Ask Mike podcast, explaining the importance of having a yearbook family.  In this episode, host Mike Taylor talks to five of the yearbook advisers who made the top 10 of the National Scholastic Press Association's Pacemaker 100 list. In first place in the Pacemaker Top 10 is the Lair yearbook program at Shawnee Mission Northwest High School in Shawnee, Kansas. Susan Massy has been the adviser for the last 36 yearbooks. In the program's history, they have won an impressive total of 23 Pacemakers and three Pacemaker finalists.Jim Jordan was the adviser behind 35 volumes of the Decamhian yearbook at Del Campo High School in Fair Oaks, California. The Fair Oaks yearbook program was named second, with 20 Pacemakers and seven Pacemaker finalists. Crystal Kazmierski retired from her position as the adviser of Wings at Arrowhead Christian Academy in Redlands, California, after the 2017 school year. Their yearbook program placed third, with 22 Pacemakers and two Pacemaker finalists. Becky Tate, CJE, is the yearbook adviser at Shawnee Mission North High School in Overland Park, Kansas. Their program came in fourth in the Pacemaker Top 10, with a total win of 18 Pacemakers and four Pacemaker finalists.Dow Tate is the current adviser of the Hauberk yearbook at Shawnee Mission East High School in Prairie Village, Kansas. Their program tied for ninth with 15 Pacemakers and five Pacemaker finalists. 

In this extra special episode, Ask Mike and Yearbook Chat with Jim team up to talk about promoting your yearbook! Hosts Mike Taylor, CJE, and Jim Jordan are joined by three members of the Walsworth marketing team, Jenica Hallman, CJE, Jimmy Gilligan and Sarah Scott. They share tips for writing press releases, ideas for promoting your yearbook, and why you want to promote your 2021 yearbook more than ever before!Listen to the episode, then share your marketing with us! Send press releases to mike.taylor@walsworth.com or jim.jordan@walsworth.com, and be sure to tag Walsworth Yearbooks in any social media promotions you post. We would love to share your work. Find us on Instagram @walsworthyearbooks, Twitter @yearbookforever, and Facebook.

In honor of Scholastic Journalism Week and the importance of diversity and inclusion in scholastic journalism, host Mike Taylor, CJE, has a very special episode today! Listen in to hear Mike talk with June Straight, from El Paso, Texas, and Dennis Wade, from Ohio, about diversity and inclusion. This episode is tough, but important for yearbook staffs to listen to. As a bonus, when yearbooks become more inclusive, they often see a boost in sales!

How did are they doing it? All over the country, yearbook staffs are stepping up and making amazing yearbooks in the middle of a pandemic that has displaced almost everything about the school year. The yearbook program at Indian Trail High School in Kenosha, Wisconsin, is one of those who is making the most of their incredible year. Listen in to hear host Mike Taylor, CJE, chat with adviser Michelle Corbett, staff member Kalea Lamphier, and Walsworth sales rep Erin Grunnet about how they’re working to make the best book their yearbook program has ever done. Listen to this special New Year’s Eve episode as we all transition our yearbook coverage from 2020 to 2021! And be sure to stick around to hear the story about how Kalea interviewed iconic journalist Deborah Roberts for her first ever story.

In this episode, host Mike Taylor speaks with two schools in the northeast part of the country, one from New Hampshire and one from Pennsylvania. The adviser and Editor-in-chief from St, Thomas Aquinas in Dover, New Hampshire, share how they're using this opportunity to make a yearbook different from anything they've done before. Two editors from Eastern Lebanon County High School in Pennsylvania share how they're organizing and getting the book done, even though they aren't in the building together. 

Host Mike Taylor, CJE, begins the new season by interviewing two editors-in-chief as they start their new year. As you may have guessed from the episode title, one resides on the east coast and the other on the west coast. Neri Verniani, from Oviedo High School in Oviedo, Florida, and David Dablo from El Camino Real Charter School in Los Angeles, California, share how they're guiding their yearbook staff to create the 2021 yearbook under extraordinary conditions. 

Think back to early March. It may seem a lifetime ago, though in reality it was only a couple of weeks. School was still in session. There was no quarantine. No one thought to wear facemasks, and toilet paper could be easily found on the well-stocked shelves of your nearest supermarket. It was during this time that Mike Taylor, CJE, went to visit our Level Up winner, Meridian High School, for their first in-person visit on a cold Thursday afternoon.

Happy Valentine’s Day! This is the time of year when the Walsworth Yearbooks Podcast Network celebrates love in all its forms – especially the love of yearbook! In this episode, host Mike Taylor, CJE, interviewed four yearbook staffs about why they love yearbook. He spoke to the staffs of Braden River High School in Bradenton, Florida; Liberty North High School in Liberty, Missouri; Kearney High School in Kearney, Missouri; and Lee’s Summit High School in Lee’s Summit, Missouri.

Some of the work being done by middle school and junior high yearbook staffs is absolutely amazing. That’s why host Mike Taylor sat down with the yearbook staffs of Carl Albert Middle School and Cactus Canyon Junior High to discuss what they’re doing right, what they’re working on, and what will happen when they move on to high school.

When the yearbook editors of Colonial Forge High School in Stafford, Virginia, attended an Elite Weekend at the beginning of the year, their stress was evident to Mike Taylor. Now, several months later, they've come a long way. Mike sat down with adviser Tiffany Kopcak and two editors to discuss how they reached their "Aha!" moment. 

Mitchell Franz, of Yoakum, Texas, is a photographer. He started out as a scholastic journalism student and now, at 29 years old, he makes his living from his photography. In this episode, Mitchell and host Mike Taylor discuss the ways yearbook staffs can make their photography better. Plus, they challenge photographers to take great academic photos. Listen to the episode for details on how to win a $50 gift card from Mike and Mitchell.

A great story starts with a great interview. In this episode, host Mike Taylor, CJE, interviews the staffs of Seminole High School, Gainesville High School, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and Eastern Lebanon County High School about creating great stories and great spreads. They shared their advice for getting great stories into the yearbook – from checking in with writers to the basics of a good interview. They talk about writing stories about the whole school, the benefit of being nosy, and teaching newbies to write stories that matter.

In this special WYPN crossover episode, host Mike Taylor teams up with Jim Jordan, of Yearbook Chat with Jim, to talk about leveling up your yearbook! They bring in yearbook experts do discuss the possibilities and ways yearbook staffs can make improvements. They also speak to advisers and staffs about the ways they want to Level Up their yearbooks for 2020!   Get some help achieving your goals. Enter the Walsworth Yearbooks Level Up contest at walsworthyearbooks.com/level-up and you could win a visit from Mike and Jim!

Creating a yearbook is fun, but most staffs can't accomplish that without the funds raised from sales!   In this episode, host Mike Taylor speaks to students at several different schools about how they sell and market their yearbooks.    Find Ask Mike on Twitter, @yrbkmiketaylor and don't forget to use #AskMike. 

Host Mike Taylor spends a lot of time traveling from yearbook workshop to yearbook workshop all over the United States. At two recent workshops, one in California and one in Florida, he was especially impressed with the editors at Saugus High School and Freedom High School. So he interviewed them! These students already have impressive yearbook careers. They shared their experiences and their expectations for their 2020 yearbook. 

Ask Mike is back and ready to talk about yearbooks! Host Mike Taylor, CJE, kicks off season three with interviews done at the summer yearbook workshop in El Paso, Texas.  In this episode, Mike interviews a great group of students about their yearbook hopes, dreams and fears for the 2020 school year. 

What makes a great theme? In this episode Mike Taylor, CJE, answers the questions and walks you through how to find a great theme for your 2020 book. Taylor explains his theme-finding exercise that’s broken down into seven-minute increments. You can get a powerpoint presentation with even more inspiration. Just ask him! Email Mike at mike.taylor@walsworth.com or find him on Twitter, @yrbkmiketaylor. Plus, Mike explains what “What’s the T?” really means (check it out at the 34 minute mark).

Recorded live at the JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention in Anaheim on April 26, 2019. Host Mike Taylor's session from the conference floor.  Featuring 12 "micro-interviews" with yearbook advisers and staffs, Mike asked the all-important question, "How has journalism helped you?"

Some yearbook staffs impress year after year, despite staff changes or a new adviser. So how do they do it? Mike Taylor answers the question in this episode! He sat down with staff members from three Florida schools that are frequent award winners: Hagerty, J.W. Mitchell and Palm Harbor University High School. The eight yearbook editors in this podcast share their methods for creating excellent yearbooks and ensuring next year’s will be even better, even if they won’t be there any more because they graduated!

Looking for something to do with your students after your yearbook is complete? Consider creating a podcast! In this episode, host Mike Taylor and Samantha Jo Berry, the publications adviser at Bridgeland High School in Houston, Texas, discuss the ins and outs of podcasting. That's right, it's a podcast about podcasting! Podcasts hold enormous educational value for students. They teach important skills like listening and storytelling. Plus, they're fun to create and don't actually require any special equipment! Mike and Sam walk through the ins and outs of podcasting, and why they're a great project for journalism students.

Four years ago, the yearbook program at Williamsville North High School in Williamsville, New York, was fine. They weren’t creating award-winning or journalistic yearbooks, but their yearbook club was creating image-based books that the community liked well enough. However, that wasn’t good enough for adviser Erin DeVantier. Once her eyes were opened to the possibilities journalistic yearbooks offer, she brought on English teacher Kate Curcio to kick their yearbook program into high gear. It worked. Their second-ever journalistic yearbook is a CSPA Crown finalist. Erin, Kate, and this year’s EIC Serena Leatherbarrow shared their experience turning their yearbook around with Ask Mike host Mike Taylor, CJE.

Season Two of Ask Mike kicks off with a bang! Host Mike Taylor, CJE, discusses the importance of Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) and the services they offer with Executive Director Ed Sullivan. Mike and Ed cover the benefits of being a CSPA member, the difference between their critiques and contests, and dive into the details of the upcoming annual Spring Convention. You can learn more about CSPA at cspa.columbia.edu. You can find Mike on Twitter @yrbkmiketaylor. Ask him a question using the hashtag #AskMike.

Your yearbook staff may already take great photos, but there's always room for improvement. That's where photography expert Mark Murray comes in. He knew he wanted to teach photography when he was just a kid, and made that dream come true. Mark and host Mike Taylor discuss the keys to great photography, from composition to equipment to etiquette. Mark has great advice to share for every part of scholastic photojournalism. Be sure to stick around to the end, for the Ask Mike questions portion: students and advisers from around the country sent in questions, which Mike and Mark answer in this episode. If you have questions for Mike, send them to podcasts@walsworth.com or find Mike on Twitter, @yrbkmiketaylor and #AskMike.

Finding great yearbook stories can be a challenge. Yearbook staffs want to make every year different, but much of the school year is always the same. There are always football games. Prom always happens. Two great advisers are here to help your staff fight the yearbook doldrums! Tiffany Kopcak, from Colonial Forge High School in Virginia, has a staff that consistently turns out great student life stories. Brit Taylor, from Hagerty High School in Florida, has turned his staff into amazing sports writers. These two share their insights and methods with host Mike Taylor. By the end of the episode, you'll be ready for a major brainstorming session! If you have your own questions for Mike, send them to podcasts@walsworth.com or find him on Twitter, @yrbkmiketaylor and #AskMike.

Some students are born leaders. Some develop into great leaders. Either way, strong student leadership fosters strong yearbook programs. Recorded on location at the Elite Weekend yearbook workshop in Kansas City this September, host Mike Taylor found for extraordinary young women leading their yearbook staffs. Addie Von Drehle and Emily Cooper are the EICs at Shawnee Mission East High School in Prairie Village, Kansas. Kelsey Volk and Molly Elfrink are copy editors at Shawnee Mission Northwest High School in nearby Shawnee, Kansas. These four students sat down with Mike to share their yearbook stories, and discuss how they help their staffs develop their writing skills. It's a great episode for any scholastic journalism program looking to improve their storytelling. Contact us: podcasts@walsworth.com. Find Mike on Twitter, @yrbkmiketaylor and #AskMike.

Happy National Yearbook Week! This week is all about celebrating yearbook and building a better yearbook program. That makes it the perfect time for host Mike Taylor to bring in Gary Lundgren of the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA). In this episode, Mike and Gary discuss the benefits of NSPA members, and how the organization helps yearbook staffs and advisers hone their craft. They cover the difference between a critique and the eminent Pacemaker competition, NSPA's upcoming conventions, how advisers can find their footing and improve their program, and even dip their toes in the great debate: In N Out versus Whataburger. Learn more about NSPA at studentpress.org. You can find Mike Taylor on Twitter at @yrbkmiketaylor (#AskMike) or reach him at podcasts@walsworth.com.

Bruce Watterson is widely known as "The Yearbook Whisperer," and episode eight of Ask Mike helps illustrate how he earned that title. Watterson and host Mike Taylor delve into the possibilities yearbook staffs can create. In their conversation, Watterson and Taylor cover the topics of creativity, digital storytelling tools, winning awards, the perfect yearbook and the benefits of yearbook critiques. Even after 44 years in the yearbook business, Watterson's enthusiasm continues to shine throughout the conversation. His yearbook insights will be enormously helpful to yearbook staffs trying to tell a better yearbook story.

Kathy Beers is a marketing genius. It's not just us who think that. Her creative methods are used by yearbook staffs far and wide.  In this episode of Ask Mike, Kathy chats with host Mike Taylor about some of her favorite methods to sell yearbooks and ads. For example, she doesn't call them "senior ads." They're "senior tributes," and it works! Kathy shares more than 30 minutes worth of selling advice, then Mike brings in fellow advisers who have used her methods to discuss what works with them.  We hope you enjoy this yearbook marketing extravaganza!  Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Send them to podcasts@walsworth.com. 

Mike Taylor is helping editors prepare for the school year in episode six of Ask Mike! He interviews former yearbook editors, current editors just starting their year, and even brings in a couple of advisers! They discuss how yearbook helped recent graduates prepare for college, how busy editors balance yearbook with all their other school activities, and what two editors with an inexperienced staff will do to ensure a great year.  Questions or suggestions for future episodes? Email us at podcasts@walsworth.com! 

In this episode of Ask Mike, Mike Taylor discusses yearbook boot camp!  At the start of the year, guest advisers Allison Miller and Susan McNulty each run their own yearbook boot camp. It helps them start the year off right! They're sharing how they run their boot camps, and dishing about the importance of bonding among staff members.  Do you have a question for Mike Taylor? Use #AskMike on Twitter or send them to podcasts@walsworth.com.   

In Episode 4, Mike Taylor discusses the benefits of attending an Elite Weekend. He and former attendees discuss how they took their yearbook to the next level in one weekend. 

In episode three of Ask Mike, Mike Taylor, CJE, sits down with Becky and Dow Tate. Becky Tate is the adviser at Shawnee Mission North in Overland Park, Kansas. Dow Tate is the yearbook adviser at Shawnee Mission East in Prairie Village, Kansas. This husband and wife duo have a friendly yearbook rivalry. They're both very good at inspiring creativity in their students, and shared some of their methods with Mike. From putting inspiration in front of their students, to sometimes having to draw out the creativity, the Tates have plenty of experience and have created some incredible, award-winning yearbooks over the years.

Recorded live at the NSPA/Gloria Shields workshop in Dallas, Texas, episode two of Ask Mike focuses on how to structure your yearbook for better coverage. Whether it's chronological, traditional or blended, Mike Taylor brought in a group of knowledgeable advisers and yearbook reps to discuss the details of great yearbook coverage. 

A great yearbook theme takes more than choosing from a list – although that’s a great place to start brainstorming! In the inaugural episode of Ask Mike, Mike Taylor explores the ways to find a yearbook theme that fits your school this year. He’s joined by Susan Massy and Cindy Todd, two long-time yearbook advisers who have helped their students shape and carry a yearbook theme throughout the book. They discuss yearbook theme dos and don’ts, coming up with ideas, and how to get creative but keep it approachable for the rest of your school. If you’d like Mike to address your yearbook questions in a future episode, let us know through podcasts@walsworth.com or use #AskMike on Twitter.