By Marva J. Sneed
“From Marva with Love”
As the Yearbook Chair for the Beaver Technology Center’s PTA in Garland, TX, Tevis Diaz is passionate about preserving memories for the students, in spite of COVID-19.
While students are living through the pandemic, which is a reality they could never have imagined, Diaz is concentrating on capturing significant memories, just as she did when she was editor of her high school yearbook.
“It was so important for me to capture those memories this year,” said Diaz, as she talked about the challenges with remote learning.
Working with the PTA is something she loves doing and for theist eight years, this mother has devoted her time and resources with the help of TreeRing, a technology company that offers high-quality yearbooks, to create the yearbooks at Beaver Tech. Then she joined the TreeRing team parttime in January of this year.
Diaz said she has kept the yearbook tradition alive by capturing pandemic-related photos. “This will be the yearbook that these kids will show their grandkids, telling them story after story about how unique of an experience it has been,” she said. “Challenging, for sure, but unique.”
In an interview she shared her story:
MS: Tevis, tell us about the yearbook you created for Beaver and what makes it different?
TD: You know like you, I didn’t have a yearbook in Elementary School. I have been creating yearbooks for the students for eight years. Four years ago I started working with a company TreeRing which allows me to make customized yearbooks. The students get to make their book a special yearbook with those memories to share. This year was probably the hardest yearbook I have ever made. Knowing how important it was to capture this year for them, just kept me going.
MS: What types of pictures will be in the yearbook and will it show the kids with their masks on?
TD: What’s so interesting is pretty much every picture from the school has kids with masks on and face shields. We had 60% of the kids remote learning so there is a blend of pictures with the children at school with masks and pictures of them at home at their dining room tables without masks on. The mix of pictures from school and remote learners tells the real story of this year. Trying to capture everything was a challenge, but it was fun, and my favorite book that I ever made.
MS: Elementary kids love their teachers. How difficult was it to develop those relationships during COVID?
TD: I think that’s an interesting question. I have been at the school for five years and I developed relationships with the kids. I gravitate to the kids and a lot of them know me. I spend almost the entire day on campus as a full time PTA Mom. Being remote this year, it was a struggle for me to stay connected with the school. I don’t feel like I ever disconnected from the kids. I can’t wait for the kids to see the books to see themselves on the pages of this yearbook….
There was so much more to the conversation, about the challenges and successes for this COVID year. For the full interview, go to BlogTalkRadio.com https://bit.ly/3eXFxcw.
