SMHS Yearbook Turns 100

By Alexis Snead

A yearbook is more than just a collection of words and photos; it is a record of who students are and their dreams for the future. For the students who actually create the high school’s Bay Mist yearbook each year, it’s even more personal than that. 

“The best part of creating the yearbook is being able to add your own touch to something that is important to the school and community around you,” said Senior Nyiah Schmidt. “The final product is definitely worth the wait, and it is so rewarding seeing your work as well as the work of my classmates.” 

Bay Mist has changed as much as South Milwaukee has in the past 100 years. The one thing that hasn’t changed is that students do all the work. 

The first edition of the book was published in 1926, created by the graduating class of that year. To put that year in context, the Gilded Age was in full swing, but the Great Depression was just two years away. Back then, Bay Mist was a collection of essays written by students. The book continued to be published for another six years, but ran out of funding after the 1932 edition. 

In the “lift yourself by your bootstraps” attitude of the Greatest Generation, students rallied and came together. They organized bake sales and other fundraising events to gather the money needed to bring the yearbook back. 

It worked. 

Bay Mist resumed operations in 1936.

For most of those 100 years, students used typewriters, film cameras, and physical pasteboards to create their yearbooks. Today, it’s a lot different, said SMHS Yearbook Teacher Katie Swanson.

“From graphic design to journalistic writing, marketing and distribution, students build a lot of career skills,” Swanson said. 

She explained that students develop those skills, along with time management and teamwork, during the course of the year. Swanson noted how technology has transformed yearbook production over the years. Moving from black-and-white photos taken with analog cameras to today’s high-quality digital images shows how the world has changed, and students have adapted.  It’s also expanded how creative students can be with design and imagery. 

Swanson, a SMHS alum, became the club advisor in 2010. Interestingly, during her own time at South Milwaukee High School, she had little interest in the yearbook. Scrapbooking, which she used to document her children’s lives, got her interested in the yearbook and led her to agree to serve as the club advisor. 

“The students taught me how things worked,” Swanson said. “Eventually, I got the hang of things and began teaching successive years of students.”

In 2021, Yearbook became an official class that allows students to earn academic credit while contributing to Bay Mist. Initially, it was offered as a single section during a school day, available only to seniors, with about 15 students participating. The following year, it was opened to all grade levels.

“Having dedicated time during the day made the process of creating a yearbook and telling the school’s stories easier,” Swanson said.  

Learning the skills involved in building a yearbook helps prepare students for work when they graduate, she said. “This experience aligns with journalism classes. It involves ethical responsibilities. Students create content that will be in libraries and available online” for decades.

For those who create the book each year, there’s a real sense of pride and accomplishment.

“The best part is when you hold the yearbook in your hand and flip to the pages you worked on,” Senior Sophia Palacios said. “You see yourself in the reflection of the glossy page, and just smile and admire your work.”