Newsletters and webpages from the Yale College Council may soon get an upgrade, after the council brought on a team of specialized members this semester.

The YCC created four new committees this fall, each consisting of students with specific skill-sets in programming, production and design, business or event-planning. Previously, the YCC relied on the serendipitous skill-sets its elected representatives happened to have, said YCC Communications Director Andrew Grass ’16, but the new team, consisting of students who applied to their positions, will fill pre-existing gaps and ensure that the organization has access to specialized skills regardless of who is elected.

“We have a sufficient amount of manpower to pursue the things we need [with the new committees] and I think we’ll be able to tap into a whole new level of things we’ll be able to promote by now having an organic in-house team,” said Yale College Council President Danny Avraham ’15.

Instead of relying on “random Photoshop skills any representative happened to have,” the YCC will now have access to reliable graphic designers, videographers and photographers on its eight-person production and design team, Avraham said. The team has already begun to work on a video and posters promoting YCC’s new centralized calendar for student events, Grass said. The group will help with creating infographics for reports and designing advertising in the future, he added.

Five programmers will now be responsible for keeping YCC-affiliated applications up to date and creating new apps for the Yale community, Avraham said. SubletMeYale, which is currently down due to technical issues, is one of the first projects the new programmers will tackle, Grass said.

Emily Murphy ’17, a videographer on the production and design team, said the new team positions gave her a way to be involved in the council even though she is not interested in the elected positions.

“The interesting thing about YCC is their projects, which are meant to help the student community,” Murphy said. “However, the changes made won’t mean anything if the students aren’t informed.”

The four-person business team will begin working to seek discounts for students from New Haven businesses, Avraham said.

Students in these committees will not be involved in the decisions related to YCC initiatives, Grass said, a job that remains for elected representatives only. The YCC received around eight times more applications as there were positions available, Grass said.

Walden Davis ’16, a member of the production and design team, said he joined the team because he wanted to take responsibility for how student government operates at Yale.

“Behind the scenes of every elected official, you have numerous people who support that official, who advise, who guide, who make that governance possible,” Davis said. “Positions like mine — specific positions that support specific functions — will make the YCC function better and more efficiently.”

Thirty-one people will serve on the four newly created teams.