The Aggieland Yearbook has turned a new page in leadership with hospitality, hotel management and tourism sophomore Emily Escobedo taking her place as editor-in-chief.
With over 130 years of history, the Aggieland Yearbook is one of the longest standing traditions in Texas A&M’s history, Spencer O’Daniel, the Student Media adviser, said.
Covering everything from senior class portraits to monumentous sporting events, the yearbook includes all things relating to the A&M school year. With a new staff and new editor-in-chief, or EIC, The Aggieland is looking to rebuild from their struggles in the past, Megan Williams, former Aggieland EIC and anthropology junior, said.
Williams said she is looking forward to a fresh start for the team.
“We didn’t have an adviser during the year that I was EIC,” Williams said. “It was very stressful. It was quite a challenge to navigate all of the aspects of building a book with no guidance. I’ve been doing this since high school, but I’ve never had to do everything on my own. It was quite an adventure.”
With more support from O’Daniel and Escobedo taking her place as EIC, The Aggieland is ready for a new chapter, Williams said.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing what she can do with a staff,” Williams said. “I didn’t have a staff. I built the whole book by myself, so I’m really excited to see where she takes the book. The book has good bones, but to take it to the next level in terms of content and things we’ve covered I think she’s going to bring it to the next level.”
O’Daniel said from the start, Escobedo was the clear choice for the new EIC.
“I am excited about her energy,” O’Daniel said. “I know I have really high expectations of what I want to do to rebuild this staff and it feels like she believes in that vision and is committed to putting in the time from now until the end of the book.”
Escobedo said high school was when she was first introduced to working on a yearbook. She found her passion in being able to write, take photos and design pages all in one place.
By her senior year, Escobedo was editor-in-chief. While she is excited about the semester and the chance to get the yearbook off the ground, the change of pace and different structure is something she is still learning how to manage, Escobedo said.
“It’s such a different experience than running a yearbook that was 100 pages, compared to this yearbook which is anywhere between 300 to 400 pages,” Escobedo said. “There are 70,000 kids on this campus. It’s a lot to cover. It’s very intimidating. I’m excited to create these new relationships and hopefully get comfortable with the staff and building relationships.”
With the bones of the Aggieland standing strong from what Williams created, Escobedo said her main focus right now is establishing connections with the new staff.
“There are so many people that seem really excited about this and dedicated, and we haven’t even started anything yet,” Escobedo said. “Just seeing their attitudes about it was really exciting. Obviously, the yearbook is always exciting, but the staff is what we’re really focused on this semester.”