Piper Saunders, Editor; Sebastian Afanador and Olivia Burroughs, Junior Editors
The Watauga Musket, the yearbook, works creatively all year to best represent their student body. Now preparing to launch into next year’s book, the staff has completely submitted the Musket’s 58th edition. In addition to piecing together an entire yearbook, the staff strives to equitably distribute coverage and highlight every student’s special qualities and skills.
“Our goal every year is to get every student in the book three times,” explained the yearbook staff’s Editor-in-Chief, Piper Saunders.
Three-time coverage is just one component of an achievement the Musket staff accomplished for the first time this year, a bronze level in the National Yearbook Program of Excellence. With the number of students at Watauga, that feat is nearly impossible.
We reached out to Watauga’s Jostens Yearbook Representative Dustin Cox for his thoughts.
“Less than 10% of schools with a population over 1,200 receive the Program of Excellence,” said Cox. “Achieving this honor means the student leadership and staff of the Musket worked extremely hard to submit their pages on time, cover every student in the school and get a book in every students’ hands. It takes time and commitment to excellence to be able to achieve this.”
Piper Saunders explains how the staff reached this new acheivement.
“Each year, we decide on a percentage that is just above the percentage we accomplished the previous year,” said Saunders. “The 2021 yearbook had a percentage of only 38%, the 2022 yearbook was 45%. This year I decided that I wanted to hit 50% 3x coverage. This number was a big reach but I was determined to get it and my staff helped in reaching this.”
A dedicated and ambitious editor, Piper got creative.
“The night we submitted the yearbook we were at 49%,” she explained, “I spent a lot of time going through all 252 pages of the yearbook to make sure that everyone was accurately tagged. From this, I was able to get that percentage up to 50%.”
Students can confidently look for themselves in the book this spring, knowing their yearbook staff made every effort to accurately and lovingly cover their achievements.
Heading into the spring and summer, next year’s staff is setting big goals again. Upcoming Co-Editor in Chief Olivia Burroughs is already brainstorming alongside her fellow Junior Editor Sebastian Afanador.
“We are excited to bring this new energy into next year’s book and strive to meet this goal again,” said Burroughs.
Piper Saunders is preparing to pass on her title and responsibility as Editor at the end of the year, and should do so with her head held high for all she’s accomplished.
“I am incredibly proud of my staff for working so hard to go out of their way to accomplish this goal,” Saunders said. “It is bittersweet to finish the yearbook, which may sound funny, but when you spend nearly an entire year working so hard and spending so much time on one book with a group of people that you are so close with, it is hard when the year comes to a close.”
Comments