Design contest nets CCHS student the prize for yearbook cover

To The Press

A return to student-designed yearbook covers this year garnered a $100 prize for one talented Charles City High School senior.

Art teacher and yearbook advisor Tia McInroy said she became the yearbook advisor for the 2019-20 school year, and that first year held a contest for students to design the yearbook cover. That contest was won by then-freshman Janila Toney.

“Because of the unusual school year last year I did not hold a contest, but instead designed the cover myself,” McInroy said. “This year I wanted to bring the contest back and hoped we could reward the winner with a monetary prize.”

McInroy said she emailed some of her fellow staff members to see if they’d each donate a small amount of cash for a prize, and quickly raised $100. The staff members also voted for the winning design.

The theme of the 2021-22 yearbook is “The Inside Story,” chosen by the senior yearbook staff members to add more stories and behind-the-scenes information to the pages.

“They wanted to include stories about cross country’s pasta nights, quotes from students and teachers, and much more,” McInroy said. “I have a phenomenal group of seniors who’ve created the layouts, chosen the color scheme, selected the senior notables categories, photographed events, and written stories. Because of their dedication this annual is sure to be high quality.”

Winning the contest for cover design this year was senior Nathan Ferch, who said he has been interested in drawing since he was little, drawing pictures of Spider-Man swinging through the city.

“My inspiration for the cover was to make something great, and I went through the old yearbooks trying to get an idea of what to make,” Ferch said. “I had many different ideas at first, and eventually landed on this design.

“I like making artwork that I have a connection to, whether it be a car concept or a figure floating across the screen,” he said.

McInroy said she has had Ferch as a student since he was in 6th grade.

“He has always been very artistic, and can often be seen drawing,” Ferch said. “Nathan also creates stop motion animations in his free time, and has gotten to explore Photoshop and Adobe Animate this semester because of the new MacBooks and Creative Cloud suite.”

McInroy said Ferch is currently creating a frame-by-frame Spider-Man animation.

“It is quite amazing,” she said. “My Digital Design students this semester are really thinking outside the box, and coming up with ideas I’ve never seen before. It really helps that they have quality tools to work with.”

Ferch said he had several different ideas for the yearbook cover, and ended up deciding on a collage of past CCHS yearbook covers, similar to stickers collaged on a skateboard.

“Although there were many good designs, Nathan’s stood out because of its professionalism, uniqueness and nod to past annuals,” McInroy said. “I am very proud of Nathan. He is a problem solver, always goes above and beyond on his projects, and gets to see his design on his senior yearbook.”