Framing countless portraits. Collecting images, pictures, and snapshots. Illustrating meaningful visions. Remembering through frozen glimpses. Displaying flashes of moments and captured memories.

The Dallastown High School Yearbook, The Spectator, does all of these and more.

The staff works hard each year to make the  “best book at Dallastown”  available, but none of their efforts would be possible without yearbook advisor Mrs. Dallmeyer to guide them.

“I was on my high school yearbook staff (Class of 1986!) and a literary editor at Penn State University in 1990 for La Vie and throughout my college career,”  Dallmeyer described.

Dallmeyer is on her ninth yearbook at Dallastown as an advisor, but her knowledge of the book’s history stretches far beyond the past nine years.

“The book was started in 1946 by senior Richard Snyder and the senior class,”  she explained.  “Almost everyone in the senior class participated in the yearbook staff, and it was a look at each individual senior; their nicknames were included, the addresses, their activities were listed and what they ‘willed’ to the underclassmen.”

According to her, there have been many changes at Dallastown seen through The Spectator.

Charles Fleurie, Dallastown alumni from the class of 1985, took a look at his senior yearbook and 2020 yearbook side-by-side and also noted some of the many changes over the years.

“We didn’t have as many ads included in it,”  Fleurie stated.  “We also didn’t have as many clubs.”

While looking at the clubs, he pointed out that  “there are a lot more JROTC members and groups now than there were back then. We only had, like, 5 people in the club!”

“It was interesting to look back and see how many sports they had – football, basketball, and track – and how far women’s sports have progressed throughout the years,”  Dallmeyer reflected.  “We only had one coach in the building at that time, and he coached all three sports. One in the fall, one sport in the winter, and track in the spring.”

“It was interesting as well to see how many teachers were on staff, where they went to school, and what they taught,”  she continued.  “And some of the businesses listed as patrons in the back of the 1946 book still exist, which is kind of great when you think about it.”

In 2020, many things weren’t as certain as they had been in past years – especially for the yearbook advisor and her staff.

“[We didn’t have] too many pictures to choose from – lots of uncertainty! Also, how to safely get the book to our customers and how to sell it! That was a challenge!”  Dallmeyer remarked on the staff’s struggles from when the COVID-19 shutdowns hit.

Another big challenge was the absence of friends and classic signatures.

“People would go around – signing the yearbook and talking with their friends as they do so,”  Fleurie remembered.

But in 2020, that was out of the question. So, the staff got creative. High school teachers selected quotes or wrote positive messages to the students, and their responses were put in the  “Signature”  pages in the back of the yearbook.

“We needed to have students feel as if they had people sign the book,”  Dallmeyer explained.

“This was the best idea that we had, so that is what we had to use at the back of the book! We plan on covering everything from the first day to the last day this year. There have not been too many events this year to cover, so we have been brainstorming for content, but we have lots of people to cover.”

2021 is going to be a special year for the yearbook since it’s The Spectator’s 75th anniversary. Bits and pieces from the yearbooks and history of Dallastown from the past 75 years will be included in this year’s Spectator.

“The cover is one of a kind – a never-been-done-before-at-Dallastown kind of cover,”  Dallmeyer hinted.

“The theme is special as well (‘Then and Now’) and we have a retrospective on the school, the book, and the senior class planned. We are celebrating every edition of the book printed in Dallastown history, so it looks pretty classic and current at the same time!”

Among other special plans for the 2021 yearbook, Dallmeyer and her staff are making sure to involve the fact that we have lived through a pandemic.

“THIS BOOK WILL BE A ONE OF KIND BOOK – Preserved forever as the book that recorded what it was like to live and go to school during a worldwide pandemic. And, YOU are a part of history!”  Dallmeyer exclaimed.

In the past, students would receive their yearbooks before the last day of school. That’s another difference this year.

“We plan on covering everything from the first day to the last day this year.  There have not been too many events this year to cover, so we have been brainstorming for content, but we have lots of people to cover,”  Dallmeyer explained.

Students can expect their yearbooks mailed to them over the summer (in late July or early August) with a FULL year of content, plus more surprises in this year’s edition.

Orders are taken through this website – https://www.balfour.com/student-info?smi=63887 – and yearbooks will be sold until the last one is gone!

“Don’t delay – ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY!”