ABOUT THE YEARBOOK CAMP EXPERIENCE

MAKE YOUR
YEARBOOK
HIT DIFFERENT

Bring your team.
Find your story.
Refine your theme.

THIS SUMMER,
YOUR YEARBOOK

The best yearbooks don’t happen in March.
They start in July.

SoCalYbk is where your team, your theme, and your entire yearbook get mapped out before the first bell even rings.

Not in September. Not after deadlines start stacking up.

You don’t leave inspired. You leave aligned with a real theme system, a real coverage plan, real leadership structure.

This is where strong books begin.

What is yearbook camp?

Yearbook amp is a multi-day yearbook camp designed to help students and advisers build their book from the inside out — before school starts.

Through structured learning tracks, your team will:
  • Develop a cohesive theme system
  • Build a laddered coverage plan
  • Create leadership workflows
  • Strengthen design and storytelling skills
  • Align expectations across the entire staff
It’s strategic yearbook training for students and advisers who don’t want to “figure it out later.”

WHY choose SOCALYBK CAMP?

There are yearbook camps... And then there’s this one.

Strategy First
We don’t start with software. We start with structure.


Leadership Development
Editors learn how to lead people — not just pages.

Real Theme Systems
Not just a vibe, a flexible, scalable design system that works across 200+ pages.


Adviser Support
Advisers receive real production tools and long-term program strategy.

EXPLORE LEARNING TRACKS

MEET THE TEAM

It’s all about people

So Cal Yearbooks is led by experienced yearbook professionals, award-winning advisers, and creative educators who understand both the artistic and logistical sides of yearbook production.

We’ve seen what works. We’ve seen what causes stress.
And we’ve built this camp to help you avoid the chaos and lead with clarity.

Carrie
Faust

Theme Masterclass
Smoky Hill High School


Bio coming soon
Justin
Daigle

Theme Masterclass
Brighton High School


Bio Coming Soon
Courtney Harper headshot leadership logistics learning track instructor socalybk yearbook camp 2026
Courtney
Harper

Leadership & Logistics
OCSA


Courtney Harper, CJE, MAT, advises the Dreamscape Yearbook staff and class at OCSA, and over the past ten years, she has established a student-centered book and program. Most recently, Dreamscape was named a Pacemaker finalist and included in Varsity Yearbook's Anthology section of Portfolio. Harper also teaches 7th and 12th grade Literature & Composition, enjoys the theatre, and is rarely seen without her dog Winnie.
Trisha Marciano headshot advanced design coverage learning track instructor socalybk yearbook camp 2026
Trisha
Marciano

Advanced Design & Coverage
Varsity Yearbook


Starting off her yearbook journey in seventh grade, Trisha has graduated from every level of yearbooker to the final boss level—a yearbook rep. She now works as an associate to her own middle school and high school rep, Mimi Orth and together, they’ve hosted years of yearbook workshops and camps plus their day-to-day school visits. She’s a seasoned designer with a love for visual-verbal connection and clever coverage ideas. When she’s not yearbooking, you’’ll find her trying ham & cheese croissants from a new bakery or getting her steps in at the mall.
John
Hoist

Photography
Newport Harbor High School


John Hoist is the Video Production teacher and CTE Department Chair at Newport Harbor High School, where he has also taught yearbook production and journalism for 18 years. Throughout his career, he has mentored student photographers as artists, visual storytellers, and photojournalists, helping them capture authentic moments with purpose and creativity. His teaching emphasizes strong composition, storytelling, and the real-world skills students need to create meaningful work for their school communities.
Heidi
Kniseley

Yearbook 101
Mission Hills High School


Bio coming soon
Jason
Davis

Advisers
Varsity Yearbook


Bio coming soon
Liz Doebler headshot adviser learning track instructor socalybk yearbook camp 2026
Liz
Doebler

Advisers
Varsity Yearbook


Elizabeth is a former yearbook adviser who assists schools in the greater San Diego area as a yearbook representative with Varsity Yearbook. She uses her 20 years of hands-on yearbook experience and a background in graphic design to guide yearbook advisers and their staff in creating yearbooks that keep up with recent design trends and are focused on inclusion.

As a former yearbook adviser, one of her greatest passions is guiding advisers through the journey of yearbook and helping make the yearbook process less overwhelming.

What is the camp experience like?

Think: focused during the day, unforgettable at night.

Highly Qualified Instructors
You’ll learn from experienced yearbook advisers, designers, photographers, and industry professionals who understand real production cycles not just theory.


Team Theme Planning Sessions
Your team works together to refine your concept, stress-test your ideas, and apply your theme system so you leave with clarity not question marks.


Dynamic Breakout Sessions
Fast-paced, high-energy breakout sessions keep learning practical, giving students and advisers hands-on strategies they can implement immediately.

Structured Learning Tracks
Participants dive deep into theme development, advanced design and coverage strategy, visual storytelling, leadership systems, and adviser planning — all tailored to their specific role on staff.


Fun Extracurricular Activities
Because creativity needs oxygen. Evening activities and community moments give your team space to connect, recharge, and build the chemistry that carries into the school year.


You’ll work hard.
You’ll laugh even harder.

The story begins with you

It starts in July.

The hallway lockers are still quiet. The gym lights are off. The first football game hasn’t happened. No one knows who’s transferring, who’s breaking records, who’s falling in love, or who’s about to surprise everyone.

But you’re already there.

Sitting at a round table with your team. Sketching ideas. Debating fonts. Mapping coverage. Arguing (politely) about color palettes. Laughing when someone suggests a theme that’s… ambitious.

You don’t have the story yet.
You’re building the structure that will hold it.
You’re deciding whose voices get heard.
Which moments get remembered.
How the year will feel when someone flips back to it five years from now?
Before the first bell rings.
Before the first deadline hits.
Before the first “we’ll fix it later.”

This is where it shifts.

Because the best yearbooks don’t just happen.
They begin with a team that chooses to plan the story, before the story even unfolds.

And that team?
It’s you.

Ready to make YOUR 2027 YEARBOOK Hit different?

Don’t wait until September to start planning.

The best yearbooks aren’t rushed.
They’re planned.

If you're looking for the most strategic and inspiring yearbook camp California Summer 2026 offers, this is your moment.
REGISTER FOR CAMP
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So Cal’s newest yearbook camp designed for the next generation of yearbook advisers, editors, designers and visual storytellers.

Coming to
Vanguard University
July 17-20, 2026

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