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The 2007 Fallbrook High School yearbook, themed “A Time for Change,” was chosen as the first place winner in its class at the San Diego County Fair at Del Mar.

When yearbook advisor Dave Evans received the exciting news by mail, a tidal wave of happiness overcame him. “I felt tremendous pride for all the kids who worked on it,” he said.

Achieving first place was no small feat. Evans was new to this yearbook class, and the kids attending his course were basically rookies. Nevertheless, being novices did not sway their decision to enter their first yearbook competition.

“In past years, the yearbook has not been entered into any competitions,” said Evans.

Crystal Taylor, a representative of Herff Jones Yearbooks, was instrumental, guiding Evans in the direction of where the competitions were held and sharing her extensive educational background in yearbook production. “I learned an incredible amount from her in this past year, and I really tip my hat to her,” said Evans.

Aside from the element of competition, Evans was determined from the start to produce a quality yearbook that both the campus and the community at large would be proud to call their own. “As a matter of philosophy,” he noted, “the yearbook is a historical document. Because it is a historical document, I think the effort that is put in to creating it should be top-notch.”

Evans remains humble in his involvement, casting the winning light onto his students: “All of the real credit, in my opinion, goes to the kids. They were all rookies.”

There were 24 students in this academic class but none had previous experience with yearbook production. Evans noted that half were second language learners and a couple others were special needs students.

Despite challenges, this class produced an exceptional 424-page piece of work, encapsulating the essence of Fallbrook High School in artistic word form, with brilliant, colorful digital photographs. These two dozen students had ambition, took ownership of the ominous task ahead and ended up with a first place win.

Early on, Evans recognized a special talent in one of his students, Darren Hansen. Hansen, Evans says, has an innate talent in yearbook production. Hansen was also a natural leader and was chosen to be Editor in Chief.

“Darren did an incredibly fabulous job,” Evans said. “I also nominated him as a Student of the Month, which he received.”

The yearbook competition at the 2007 San Diego County Fair was organized by rubric, and some of the judges were affiliated with the Columbia Scholastic Press Association. The judges grouped the yearbooks by class, according to the size of the book and the press run.

Based on the rubric point system, each book was scored independently in three categories: content and coverage, structure and design and writing and editing. Fallbrook High School competed with roughly 25 other high schools in their group and came out on top with the highest number of points.

“This is an incredible honor for the kids, the community and the district,” said Evans.

“Winning the first place award was a big surprise, especially since all of us were rookies,” said Darren Hansen. “I am just glad that we had a hardworking team – that everyone pulled their weight, did their part, were friendly and helped each other out.”