About Ray Slye
It’s hard to believe that taking a photography class as a junior at Willows (CA) High School way back in the mid-60s would lead to a lifetime of yearbook involvement and memories. But that is exactly what happened. Becoming the yearbook editor the following year influenced my decision to major in journalism at San Francisco State University.
While growing up in a small farming community in northern California has always been a part of who I am, living in San Francisco during my college years to earn a Bachelor’s degree in journalism and English, followed by a fifth year teaching credential program, opened up an exciting world that I could hardly imagine even existed beyond the rice fields of Willows.
Once I got more into my journalism classes on the main campus of San Francisco State, I had the opportunity to learn from area professional journalists as well as academic professors.
After earning my BA degree I completed a year-long teaching credential program. The highlight of the year was student teaching at Polytechnic High School. The school’s inner-city location opened my eyes to an entirely different world from which I was familiar.
So, five years of college and the phrase “English teachers are a dime a dozen,” suddenly meant something. I knew there had to be a teaching job somewhere in the world for me. I just didn’t expect it to be with the Peace Corps in Ghana, West Africa. My bride of two weeks, Pat, and I packed our bags and headed out on what truly would be an adventure of a lifetime.
Returning to the States after two years of “bush” life I did graduate course work in teaching reading at Chico State while living and substitute teaching in Willows. Then I was fortunate to land a teaching position at Esparto High School, just outside of Woodland. I had six different preps, including advising the student newspaper that was mailed out to all residents within the school district.
After two years in the tiny Esparto community it was on to the larger farming community of Tracy and a new teaching position that included advising the student newspaper, yearbook and teaching freshman English and college prep writing. On a personal note, Pat and I welcomed our first son Cameron into our family during our second year in Tracy.
Three years of teaching at Tracy lead to an opportunity to take over part of the Herff Jones Yearbooks territory for my retiring rep. After two years as a yearbook rep in the East Bay and San Francisco area I decided I really didn’t want the 60 mile commute between home and the Bay area on a daily basis. Plus, I really wasn’t finished with teaching and returned to my job at Tracy High. The publications students at Tracy High earned several state, regional and national awards, including CSPAs Gold Crown and NSPAs Pacemaker Finalist honors.
After five years of being back at Tracy, there was another teaching opportunity that seemed just too good to pass up, and that meant packing up and moving to Phoenix, Arizona, to accept a publication adviser’s dream job. On another personal note, during my first year with Herff Jones, our second son Adam joined us to round out the family.
That dream job in Phoenix was at Shadow Mountain High School and included advising the newspaper, yearbook and public relations staffs, in addition to teaching beginning journalism. Again, students garnered all types of awards and recognition for the various programs.
Besides my teaching and advising duties at both Tracy and Shadow Mountain, I was also on the state journalism board of directors for northern California (JEANC) and Arizona.
One more opportunity to work as a Herff Jones representative was offered at the end of our second year in Phoenix. This new job meant moving to Sacramento, which meant living much closer to both sets of grandparents and other relatives for our sons.
The past 25 years have been a thrilling experience of helping new advisers and guiding yearbook staffs in the production of the best possible publications for their schools. And the best part of this second time around as a rep has been having my son Adam join me in the business eight years ago as an associate rep and now as the direct rep for our Herff Jones territory.
Besides teaching at various yearbook workshops across the country for several years, I have also co-directed the summer workshop Yearbooks CA at UC Santa Cruz since 1993 before relocating it to the Sacramento area for the past six years.
I wasn’t kidding when I said that yearbook has provided me with a lifetime of involvement and memories. I know that in our constantly changing world of technology that it might seem as if the printed yearbook could be a thing of the past. However, I am confident that there will never be a substitute for the personally recorded story of one school year that can be held and opened by any student to remember that time when they were in middle school and high school. And to remember when they were 13 to 17 years old. “If it’s not in the yearbook, it didn’t happen,” has never been a more apt statement in our currently expanding world of apps!
