Meet Cameron Motsinger, a third-year studying English, who, since May of this year, has been working in her role as editor-in-chief for NC State’s official yearbook, Agromeck.
Motsinger said, after being involved in the yearbook for three years of high school and holding the position of editor-in-chief her junior and senior year, she knew as soon as she got to NC State that she wanted to be involved with Agromeck.
“I joined my freshman year as a designer, and I just worked as a designer and then applied to be design editor at the end of my freshman year,” Motsinger said. “Being design editor last year, I got really close with everyone on staff and applied to be editor-in-chief in January of this year.”
After being hired in February and officially moving into her role in May of this year, Motsinger said the new role has allowed her to oversee far more administrative matters than she did in her role as design editor. She spends a lot more time thinking about bigger picture projects, like recruiting and content generation.
According to Motsinger, she was inspired to apply for editor-in-chief because she felt she had the qualifications to take the lead and leave a lasting impression on NC State through her book, but she also feels an even deeper connection to the yearbook.
“I applied because I’m an English major, I worked as a designer and I felt like I had all the components required in order to be editor-in-chief, with my knowledge of writing and designing,” Motsinger said. “Also, my dad works for Lifetouch photography, which is a school photography company, and I did yearbook in high school, so it is kind of something that is so ingrained in me. I’ve never been without yearbook.”
With COVID-19 creating a less-than-typical school year, Motsinger was left with the unique responsibility of documenting the NC State experience during a pandemic. She said this has been challenging because, in addition to fewer events happening physically on campus, most of the work on the book is being completed remotely. However, despite the challenges, Motsinger said she is hopeful and excited.
“Agromeck is an amazing organization to get involved with because we are a historical document for the University, first and foremost, so I want to portray it like it was,” Motsinger said. “One of my favorite things is the archive room and going through all the old yearbooks and being able to imagine what it was like to go to NC State in 1960-something or whatever. I want people years from now to be able to look back and remember coronavirus.”
Motsinger said this year, more than ever, she has found it important to step back from her studies and work for a period of time, simply to get away from the screen. When Motsinger isn’t in the office or studying, you may find her in the park, walking with her wiener dog and her sister. In fact you may find her with far more wiener dogs than that, as she organizes a wiener dog meet-up group in her spare time.
“The most interesting, or I guess weird thing, about me is I am crazy about wiener dogs,” Motsinger said. “I have two, and me and my sister run an NC wiener meet-up group, so we have groups in Raleigh and are trying to start one in the [North Carolina] Triad, which is where we are from, and we have one in Charlotte, which is exciting. So, we like to go to parks and have themes, and there will be 20-plus wiener dogs at these events.”
Looking back over her time at Agromeck as well as forward, as her role as editor-in-chief continues, Motsinger is thankful for the opportunity to leave her legacy through Volume 119 of NC State’s Agromeck.
