Gathered in a sunlit classroom, students’ voices blend in collaboration as they write and design a highly anticipated Pensacola Christian College publication, the 2025–2026 Summit yearbook. Since the founding of PCC, Yearbook Practicum students have crafted volumes for classmates, allowing them to relive priceless moments long into the future. “Our goal is to capture honest memories for the student body so they can preserve their story for years to come,” shared class instructor Mrs. Esther Hallman.
Graduate assistant and Summit editor Addie Tastet (OR) revealed that this edition includes added content, and the creators cannot wait to see friends’ reactions. “This yearbook has been exciting to create,” she shared. “The design team has gone outside what we’ve done in the past and has made a unique book. For writing content, the practicum students had the opportunity to interview students in the different academic departments to write department paragraphs,” Addie observed. “I am so excited to see the student body enjoy our hard work.”
Becoming Yearbook Staff
To take the Yearbook Practicum, students are first required to apply to become yearbook staff. Online applications open each March, a year before the Summit releases in April. Out of this year’s applicants, 19 candidates from majors like graphic design, professional writing, education, and advertising were accepted. Then they were assigned to be part of either the support or design team. Supporters research, develop content, and proofread. Designers create the book concept which includes font selection, styles, and themes for the cover and interior. To guide students, Mrs. Hallman provides content directions that also allow creative freedom.
“These students are going above and beyond to plan, design, write, proofread, and finish a book of memories for their peers.”
Mrs. Hallman is always impressed to see the yearbook staff’s passion as they chronicle the year for friends. “The students volunteer to add this class to their schedule,” she explained. “It’s not a required class, so these students are going above and beyond to plan, design, write, proofread, and finish a book of memories for their peers. Lots of unseen work by volunteers goes into this 280-page book!”
Crafting the Summit
In the fall, the design team begins the creative process by gathering pictures and planning general layouts for the yearbook. College employees schedule faculty and undergraduate portraits, while students capture daily moments like classroom candids, casual pickleball games, and coffee hangouts at the on-campus café Common Grounds.
At the same time, the support team writes content, including sections on athletics, spiritual life, music, and others. Addie, the editor, described how they draft the academic chapter. “We carefully curate a list of classes to photograph each semester to feature, and, when we write the content, we email the teachers to gain information about the class,” she shared.
“I love highlighting the wide variety of events our student body participates in.”
Throughout the fall, supporters share paragraph drafts with designers, allowing the other team to create an eye-catching book. This year, they overlaid the cream-colored cover with pictures, making the 2025–2026 Summit the first since 2020 to have a photo-based cover. For the interior, designers used the computer program Adobe to lay out writing and photos creatively. Clayton Hockett (Sr., IA) helped design a spread for collegians, vibrant campus groups encouraging Greek life. “I love highlighting the wide variety of events our student body participates in,” Clayton shared. “Whether it’s a dolphin cruise, an outing to Sushi Masa, or a study group in the dayroom, we’re looking to capture what makes each collegian special.”
By Christmas vacation, the support team begins proofreading the nearly finished book. Professional writing student Mikayla Klavohn (Jr., IN), along with other classmates, checked facts and grammar. “The details I look over include students’ photos, names, classifications, and presences in group photographs,” Mikayla noted. “It’s a lot of little things that make the final product as perfect as we can get it.”
Assembling the Book
After yearbook staff add final touches, Mrs. Hallman sends the book PDF to the PCC Print Shop. When the pages come off the press, they are wrapped, folded, packaged, and sent to Nashville, Tennessee, for binding along with the cover, which is printed separately and laminated. Since the assembly plus transit takes two months, the materials are shipped in advance to ensure an April release.
“The machine stitches the pages together, wraps the cover around a board, then glues everything together using the end sheets and headband.”
When the materials reach Nashville, a machine binds the covers and pages together with thread. Finally, the end sheets, a paper providing structural support, and the headband, a piece reinforcing the book’s spine, are fixed into a finished yearbook. “The machine stitches the pages together, wraps the cover around a board, then glues everything together using the end sheets and headband,” Mrs. Hallman explained.
Reliving Priceless Memories
When the long-awaited yearbook distribution day arrives on campus, the Summit is unveiled in a commemorative chapel. After, the yearbook staff gather in the PCC Commons to personally hand the volumes to thousands of eager students waiting in line. Many gather at Common Grounds and sip coffees while getting friends’ signatures, searching for each other’s pictures, and remembering the year’s highlights. Addie loves watching this scene unfold. “Since being on the yearbook team, my favorite part is the reaction of the student body to the revealed cover and seeing them sign each other’s books,” Addie shared. “I think it’s a unique experience to have such a top-notch yearbook to have as a keepsake after graduating.”
“Since being on the yearbook team, my favorite part is hearing the reaction of the student body to the revealed yearbook cover and seeing them sign each other’s yearbooks.”
Like each previous edition, the 2025–2026 Summit yearbook holds the careful craftsmanship of student writers and designers who used their skills to record college life. Their work will make its way across the United States and around the world, the elegant copies coming to rest on shelves or coffee tables, a testament to academic and spiritual growth. For years to come, alumni and friends can turn these pages and relive priceless memories preserved by their fellow classmates.