THROWBACK. University president Fr Roberto C Yap SJ shares his own yearbook story during Martial Law at CYB’s Open Season subscription launch. Photo by Carlo Pailagao.
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines — Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan president Fr Roberto “Bobby” C Yap SJ warmed the hearts of the graduating class of 2017 as he imparted his own yearbook experience during the "Open Season," the official Crusader Yearbook 2017 subscription launch on Wednesday, November 9.
"It was in high school, I graduated in 1975. Most of you weren’t born yet. But that time it was Martial Law and we were not allowed to make a yearbook. I wanted to be the editor of our yearbook in fact, at Sacred Heart School - Ateneo de Cebu," Yap told the big crowd gathered along the Magis Walkway of the university.
"But last year, 2015, we had our high school reunion and one of my best friends said that we would work the whole year to produce our high school yearbook. We gathered our graduation pictures and put them together. The pages were updated: when we were in high school and then, where we are forty years after,” he narrated.
“It certainly made our reunion happier and more meaningful because finally, we would have our yearbook forty years later. Everybody was really appreciative that in some sense, we have this solid memorabilia — where you can remember the people whom you've met and became your good friends through happy and difficult times.”
Nearly 500 members of the graduating class of 2017 subscribed during the first day of the Open Season, themed after the colors of Autumn and the start of the hunting season. The event page reads: “The doors are wide open. It is the season of new possibilities. The shots have been fired and the hunt is on.”
GRADUATING CLASS. An XU senior student types in her personal information on the CYB website during the Open Season subscription launch. Photo by Carlo Pailagao.
“I'm really glad of the long line this afternoon. This shows that you are all interested of your yearbook," Yap said. "I thank the Crusader Yearbook staff; I know it's not easy work. But I know you are all doing your best to come up with a very, very memorable yearbook for all of us.”
Open Season is the most sponsored event in the history of CYB, with eight local establishments offering freebies and discount coupons inserted in the yearbook subscription manual. Open Season is sponsored by Maison de Bonbon Cafe and Restaurant, Giuseppe Pizzeria and Sicilian Roast Italian Restaurant, Boy Zugba, Bigby’s Cafe & Restaurant, Spruce, Missy Bon Bon Breadshop, Kenko Nai Cha Tea Lounge, and Chingkeetea.
Homegrown talents of Xavier also performed song numbers while the senior students were lining up to subscribe. The Open Season also included a photo booth for the graduating class.
AUTUMN ISSUES. The Open Season also includes a photo booth for the graduating class, located along the Magis Walkway. Photo by Carlo Pailagao.
In September 2016, CYB unveiled its design study for the 2017 yearbook, which contains the general guidelines, color schema, and the explanation of CYB’s character marks, down to the minutest of details such as the different font faces and sizes to be used.
(RELATED READ: Crusader Yearbook unveils 2017 design study)
The overarching theme of the 2017 yearbook, according to CYB executive editor Kirby James Jagape, is “in a word — millennial.” He added, “The editorial board mainly conceptualized the design, but we had to look at the latest trends. We had to bridge what we wanted our yearbook to look like with what is going on outside.”
The yearbook, however, will retain the neutral colors CYB has used over the years — grey, blue, black, and white — to keep its clean and classic tone.
Open Season, which will run until Saturday, November 12, is open to the graduates of Summer 2016, October 2016, and March 2017. ∎
A SONG FOR THE GRADUATES. Homegrown talents of Xavier perform a song number while the senior students line up to subscribe during the Open Season. Photo by Carlo Pailagao.