Behind the book: the making of Agromeck

The Agromeck may have gained its name from NC State’s origins as an agriculture-based school, but it, as well as the university, has evolved. What started as a book of pictures now works to provide coverage of NC State every year. The Agromeck allows students to learn about communication and publishing in a real-world environment. 

The Columbia Scholastic Press Association announced Sunday that the Agromeck’s most recent publication of its 2014-2015 book won a Gold Crown Award, which is the highest award given from the association.

Molly Donovan, this year’s editor-in-chief and a junior studying communication, said it is not unusual for the Agromeck to consistently win awards. Donovan explained that the yearbook is NC State’s oldest publication, at 113 years old, and it wins many awards every year. 

Organization

At the start of Agromeck’s year, the staff has 328 blank pages to fill. They work year-round, covering NC State events, national and international news and content specific to that year that the staff feels will still be relevant and important years from now. 

“The Agromeck is similar to the other journalistic publications, it’s just that we’re more discerning about what will be important 50 years from now,” Donovan said. “That’s the only difference. It’s literally a year-book, the year in a book that you can hold in your hands.” 

Each school year starts with a fresh staff and an book waiting to be filled. To prepare for the year ahead the senior staff attends an annual summer retreat, according to Martha Collins, the administrative and annual publications coordinator. 

Donovan said each month is a bit of a numbers game, making sure that they have an ideal amount of stories and pages to fill for the next deadline. The publication has six deadlines throughout the year, so about every two months its pages are due to its publishing company, Balfour. 

“It’s a lot of math at the beginning,” Donovan said. “Amongst the staff, it is a lot of planning, coordination and communication. With each deadline, there is always too much content in the end, which is good.” 

The final deadline of this year’s Agromeck was March 4, and Donovan said the staff is more than excited to see the final product of the book that they have put a year’s worth of work into. 

“I’m pretty sure when this book comes in about a month, we are going to cry,” Donovan said.

Donovan said the Agromeck is unique compared to other school yearbooks. The yearbook follows certain color patterns and fonts, and it is organized by month. According to Donovan, many yearbooks throughout the country are not organized by months but by seasons or themes. 

Staff

The Agromeck was recently named First Place Best of Show at the North Carolina College Media Association and was announced as a finalist for the Pacemaker, a preeminent collegiate journalism award, by the Associated Collegiate Press.

Liz Moomey, last year’s editor-in-chief of the Agromeck and 2015 alumna, said she felt that this difficult, yet rewarding, work has positively impacted her life.

“The most valuable thing I learned from the Agromeck was how to be a hard worker,” Moomey said. “When I became editor-in-chief I developed this drive to be very efficient and to be a very hard worker.”

Donovan said that the Agromeck’s staff is small but dedicated, noting the publication’s success despite NC State’s lack of a journalism major. The staff is made up of only 15 students, which is even smaller than the yearbook’s normal 20 to 30 headcount.

“We’re all doing so well here because we all want to be here in every sense of the word,” Donovan said. “We’re fulfilling our own selfish needs being here. I couldn’t ask for a better way to spend my time.“

Donovan said that NC State’s lack of a journalism major might actually benefit the production because it ensures that the staff is motivated and does not turn the project into schoolwork. 

“No one is making us do anything,” Donovan said. “They [other publications] get tired of being forced into work because it’s part of a class. It’ll burn you out.”

This Year (“Here”)

The theme of this year’s edition of the Agromeck is “Here.” Donovan said she and the staff chose this theme because they feel NC State has been progressing and building for years, but now, it is “finally NC State.”

“The whole time I’ve been on staff it’s been about what we’re working toward and why we were working toward it,” Donovan said. “But we wanted to focus on now. NC State is really up-and-coming, so I was done with ‘we’re getting there,’ because we’re here now.” 

Donovan said that with this theme, the staff was able to cover an array of topics including mental health, as well as diversity and inclusion. 

“We did two full spreads, which is four pages, on mental health awareness on campus, which I’m personally excited about,” Donovan said. “This year really ended up being about diversity and inclusion. It wasn’t the theme that I picked, it’s the theme that went along with what was going on on campus. So, I’m really excited about that.”

Jessicah Raynor, assignments editor of the Agromeck and a senior studying communication, said she was especially excited about an NC State profile on Toni Harris “Mama” Thorpe. Thorpe is the program coordinator for the African American Cultural Center, who has been working with the college for more than 20 years. 

“I wrote a profile on her, because it was the anniversary of the African American Cultural Center and because of Black History Month,” Raynor said. “She has always been one of those women on campus who I admire because of her work, and she reaches out to students so that they can be the best that they can be. It was honestly a joy writing that story.” 

This year’s Agromeck is available to order online at: ncsu.edu/agromeck.