St. Francis High School named Jostens 2020 National Yearbook Program of Excellence
St. Francis High School's yearbook program has been named Jostens 2020 National Yearbook Program of Excellence. The National Yearbook Program of Excellence recognizes engaging yearbooks that reflect a broad representation of the student body while helping students develop 21st century skills such as communication, collaboration, and information and communication technologies (ICT) literacy.
The Wheaton school's award winning yearbook program is led by editors Gabi Castaneda '21, Brigette Penrod '21, and Elizabeth Kapsch '21, under the direction of Kate Doane, Yearbook class advisor, Visual Arts and English Teacher at St. Francis High School.
"We are fortunate to have such dedicated and hardworking students to create our Yearbook, preserving St. Francis High School history and memories for years to come!" says Doane. "This year the Yearbook students wanted to showcase our strong SFHS community and what sets our school apart." United are We, a lyric from our school fight song, was the theme this year, and it perfectly describes how we have all pulled together and stayed unified throughout the weeks in quarantine."
Jostens' National Yearbook Program of Excellence Awards are presented twice a year, in spring and in fall based on the yearbook's arrival date at the school. The award was presented to the St. Francis High School yearbook program - the only yearbook program in Illinois to receive this honor - for achieving the defined criteria in each of three following categories: creating an inclusive yearbook, generating school engagement, and successfully managing the yearbook creation process.
"Especially this spring, Jostens is proud to recognize those individuals who have acted as wonderful stewards by creating an exceptional yearbook for their school and community," said Tammy Whitaker, Jostens VP and COO Yearbook Division. "These schools did an exceptional job on multiple levels, despite the challenges presented by Spring 2020. Yearbooks are a critical part of capturing and telling a school's story, and Jostens is dedicated to supporting yearbook staff members as they do their important work."
ABOUT ST. FRANCIS HIGH SCHOOL: St. Francis High School is a Catholic, college preparatory learning community that promotes spiritual, academic, physical, and social development in the daily presence of Jesus Christ.
ABOUT JOSTENS: Founded in 1897, Jostens has produced school yearbooks for over 60 years. Schools rely on Jostens and their local Jostens representatives to provide a combination of journalism education and technology tools to deliver a learning experience that helps students develop 21st century skills in journalism, photography, writing and design, leadership and business while creating the permanent record of the school year. Jostens invests in state-of-the-art technology, best in class service, educational curriculum and award winning print manufacturing platforms to plan, design, build and produce yearbooks.