1984 Yearbook
Source URL
Title
1984 Yearbook
Description
A yearbook is a story of one year at a particular
school, told mainly through pictures that often are supplemented by short articles and captions.
The yearbook can be an excellent permanent record—
a history and reference book describing people, places
and events at the school.
The yearbook also can be an effective public relations
instrument helping to project the school's image in a
positive way and to mirror some realities that might be
improved.
The yearbook also can be a laboratory in which the
staff experiences writing and picture-taking, and the
many related aspects of planning and executing a creative project.
At St. Ambrose, our experience with the Oaks of 1983-
84 has been rewarding but frustrating. We have suffered
from staff attrition as students who assumed posts
resigned prematurely or failed to complete some aspect
of an assignment.
A reorganized and much smaller staff has carried forward the project under increasingly difficult conditions
because some pictures and information had not been
obtained when events occurred—so the reorganized
staff has been forced to accept some incompleteness as
it attempts to tell the year's school history.
This staff has provided opportunities for individual
pictures and also pictures of clubs, departments and
other units, and many of these have shown at least
apparent disinterest in our invitation.
Instead of the more than 2,000 we might have had,
only about 25 percent of the student body is pictured.
This small response to having an individual picture in
the book has been the pattern for several years.
Some effort was made this year to give departments
an opportunity to claim a kind of ownership in the book
by expressing the department's own story. This drew
little response.
None the less, this method of getting information and
pictures for the book seems reasonable, as a way of
sharing responsibility for researching virtually every
aspect of the St. Ambrose community.
Ownership of the yearbook ideally is vested not in a
few Oaks staff members, but in all of us who comprise
the St. Ambrose family.
The Oaks of 1983-84 is a reflection of ourselves—the
small staff that has labored to gather pictures and copy
and is a mirror of the student body.
Each of us is busy going to school, working at a job,
having a good time, and involving ourselves to the extent
we desire or have the opportunity.
Half of our students live on campus, and the others
commute. As the Oaks staff has discussed the mood and
ethos of the school, we have acknowledged that a great
amount of apathy exists among our students toward
extracurricular things, such as this yearbook.
Students are paying a high price for their education
and some can do little more than attend classes, do their
homework and work at an outside job to meet expenses.
Others probably waste some time that might be put to
better use.
All this is said not to excuse or blame but to acknowledge the realities that are a part of St. Ambrose life
today.
Possibly student life was not much different in any
other time. A few dedicated editors put the Oaks
together, or, in a particular year, the book was not
published.
We believe the Oaks is a project that can be immensely worthwhile not merely to those who create the book
but particularly to those who read it.
Certainly, the Oaks staff and contents can be greatly
improved , and as this happens the benefits to the college can be multiplied, for the yearbook is a unique
forum for telling the St. Ambrose story to countless
persons.
Some contend that schools are ceasing to publish
yearbooks. This is not the case. We could present a long
list of high schools and colleges that publish yearbooks
and still consider the book an integral part of their
school lives.
In fact, a school without a yearbook is an exception in
our community. In the Quad-Cities, all the high schools
publish yearbooks. The junior colleges do not—the average age of their students is about 27 and few have much
contact with the school, other than in the classroom.
Augustana College publishes 2,000 books, and of the
more than 40 colleges, high schools and junior highs in
the immediate Quad-City area the only sizable schools
that did not publish a yearbook in 1984 are Marycrest
College, Scott Community College, Palmer College of
Chiropractic and Black Hawk College.
A few colleges publish a magazine, and this has merit,
especially literary, but a magazine is not comparable in
dimension to a yearbook. While the Oaks this year has
been short on help, we appreciate the help we got. We
apologize for any deficiencies this book may contain.
And if some Oaks staff in the future asks for help, please
consider saying, "Yes, I'll help with that!"
school, told mainly through pictures that often are supplemented by short articles and captions.
The yearbook can be an excellent permanent record—
a history and reference book describing people, places
and events at the school.
The yearbook also can be an effective public relations
instrument helping to project the school's image in a
positive way and to mirror some realities that might be
improved.
The yearbook also can be a laboratory in which the
staff experiences writing and picture-taking, and the
many related aspects of planning and executing a creative project.
At St. Ambrose, our experience with the Oaks of 1983-
84 has been rewarding but frustrating. We have suffered
from staff attrition as students who assumed posts
resigned prematurely or failed to complete some aspect
of an assignment.
A reorganized and much smaller staff has carried forward the project under increasingly difficult conditions
because some pictures and information had not been
obtained when events occurred—so the reorganized
staff has been forced to accept some incompleteness as
it attempts to tell the year's school history.
This staff has provided opportunities for individual
pictures and also pictures of clubs, departments and
other units, and many of these have shown at least
apparent disinterest in our invitation.
Instead of the more than 2,000 we might have had,
only about 25 percent of the student body is pictured.
This small response to having an individual picture in
the book has been the pattern for several years.
Some effort was made this year to give departments
an opportunity to claim a kind of ownership in the book
by expressing the department's own story. This drew
little response.
None the less, this method of getting information and
pictures for the book seems reasonable, as a way of
sharing responsibility for researching virtually every
aspect of the St. Ambrose community.
Ownership of the yearbook ideally is vested not in a
few Oaks staff members, but in all of us who comprise
the St. Ambrose family.
The Oaks of 1983-84 is a reflection of ourselves—the
small staff that has labored to gather pictures and copy
and is a mirror of the student body.
Each of us is busy going to school, working at a job,
having a good time, and involving ourselves to the extent
we desire or have the opportunity.
Half of our students live on campus, and the others
commute. As the Oaks staff has discussed the mood and
ethos of the school, we have acknowledged that a great
amount of apathy exists among our students toward
extracurricular things, such as this yearbook.
Students are paying a high price for their education
and some can do little more than attend classes, do their
homework and work at an outside job to meet expenses.
Others probably waste some time that might be put to
better use.
All this is said not to excuse or blame but to acknowledge the realities that are a part of St. Ambrose life
today.
Possibly student life was not much different in any
other time. A few dedicated editors put the Oaks
together, or, in a particular year, the book was not
published.
We believe the Oaks is a project that can be immensely worthwhile not merely to those who create the book
but particularly to those who read it.
Certainly, the Oaks staff and contents can be greatly
improved , and as this happens the benefits to the college can be multiplied, for the yearbook is a unique
forum for telling the St. Ambrose story to countless
persons.
Some contend that schools are ceasing to publish
yearbooks. This is not the case. We could present a long
list of high schools and colleges that publish yearbooks
and still consider the book an integral part of their
school lives.
In fact, a school without a yearbook is an exception in
our community. In the Quad-Cities, all the high schools
publish yearbooks. The junior colleges do not—the average age of their students is about 27 and few have much
contact with the school, other than in the classroom.
Augustana College publishes 2,000 books, and of the
more than 40 colleges, high schools and junior highs in
the immediate Quad-City area the only sizable schools
that did not publish a yearbook in 1984 are Marycrest
College, Scott Community College, Palmer College of
Chiropractic and Black Hawk College.
A few colleges publish a magazine, and this has merit,
especially literary, but a magazine is not comparable in
dimension to a yearbook. While the Oaks this year has
been short on help, we appreciate the help we got. We
apologize for any deficiencies this book may contain.
And if some Oaks staff in the future asks for help, please
consider saying, "Yes, I'll help with that!"
Publisher
U.S. Yearbook Service, Des Moines, IA
Date
1984
Rights
St. Ambrose University, 518 W. Locust St., Davenport, IA 52803
Identifier
http://cdm16810.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16810coll2/id/6965