Two Manoa schools are now extending their green-ness to their yearbooks.

The yearbook staffs at Mid-Pacific Institute and the University Laboratory School decided to produce this year's annuals on 100 percent recycled paper printed with soybean oil ink.

At Mid-Pac, turning the school's 366-page yearbook "green" spurred several initiatives to get the school to change light bulbs to compact fluorescents, hold HI-5¢ recycling drives, plant trees and conduct worm composting to raise students' consciousness on sustainability.

"We wanted to make an impact by showing by example that kids our age can make a huge impact on our community," said Davin Aoyagi, yearbook editor. "As an editor I wanted something that is aesthetically pleasing but sustainable. Of all the global issues facing the world today, sustainability is something our generation has to address."

At the Lab School, the current trend of living green prompted the push to carry through the green-ness to the yearbook, said Kika Bombeke, the school's yearbook adviser. The school also holds periodic recycling drives and now has paper recycling bins in all classrooms, Bombeke said.

The Lab School theme was "Go green."

"I'm hoping that we will continue with the recycled paper and soybean oil ink," she said. "The students were really excited about the whole theme. Being green is hitting home with the students, who are seeing that they're the next generation that will be responsible for the environment."

In Hawai'i, other schools such as Punahou and 'Iolani produce yearbooks with partial recycled paper content. Other schools may also have some kind of recycled paper stock use, but according to the company that prints the bulk of the yearbooks in the state, Mid-Pac and Lab School are the only two to go completely to all recycled paper. There was an additional cost to both schools, said Pam Holloway, a representative for Jostens, which printed the yearbooks.

The all-color Mid-Pac yearbook is titled "Living Green." Sprinkled throughout the book are tips on how to be good to the environment. The use of recycled paper saved the equivalent of 30 trees, Holloway said.

"A yearbook is something students will remember," said Aoyagi, who led the push at Mid-Pac. "It's important for it to reflect something that they feel is important to them now and in the future. This is graphically appealing with a message.

"There's a deeper meaning here with the yearbook. It's not just eye candy for the students. I wanted it to be like a news article so that it raises an issue. Being green is something that needs to be raised."

The staff yesterday got its first glimpse at their year-long effort of taking pictures, writing captions and laying out themed pages, prompting much joviality and praise from each other.

"It came out amazing," said Ashley Yamachika, a Mid-Pac sophomore. "The color is amazing. The pictures came out really clear."

Ashley To, who has served on the yearbook staff for two years, was pleased at the way the color pictures reproduced.

"It turned out nicer than we thought it was," To said. "We worked so hard. We came in on weekends and after school. It was totally worth the work."

Each year before the end of the year, the school decides on a theme for the yearbook. Next year, Sachi Roscoe, who will be the editor of the yearbook staff, will have to come up with a theme that will top this one.

"Dude, it will be hard to beat this, but I know we will do it," Roscoe said. "I can't believe how good it turned out."