A New Take on “The Helm”

MISHAWAKA—This year the yearbook, formerly called “The Helm,” will look different than ever before. With a new format, the yearbook will resemble an exotic high-quality magazine featuring an insider scope about life at Bethel College, both on and off campus. 

Matthew Stackowicz, director of career development, said, “Social Media has replaced yearbooks and the content of yearbooks, so we started rethinking what a yearbook should look like in 2019. After researching what is trending, we decided to try creating a publication that represents the student body that shares student activities and stories in more of a magazine format. It is like a high-end, high-quality magazine that shares the student stories from student perspectives.”

The yearbook will include 10 to 15 photo or written stories about students and their stories. This will include a variety of elements found in Bethel’s community as well as many individual stories about students on campus and the unique and diverse student body. The hope is that the yearbook will come out within the next two weeks, but that is only if the publishers are able to come through within that time frame. 

The aim of this transformation of the yearbook is to give a new insider perspective about the life of the students and the life at Bethel. That can mean focusing on a theater production, a specific sport, a faculty member, a conservation initiative, or just a unique story of something about Bethel or a student specifically. This magazine will capture the essence of Bethel (soon to be University) as told from the perspective of a student. 

Stackowicz said it will be a beautifully constructed magazine that you may be able to find in a local café or book store. In fact, there are already businesses in local Mishawaka and South Bend that have shown interest in obtaining the yearbook to sell at their stores, he said. 

This yearbook is completely organized and put together by students. It contains photographs taken by students, stories written by students, and glimpses into the lives of students. Eventually, it is the hope to develop this yearbook/magazine enough to produce two per year -- one for the fall semester and one for the spring semester.