Running the college yearbook for a campus of nearly 35,000 students is a tough job, but somebody’s gotta do it. Don Bui, a fourth-year studying technology, engineering and design education, is the co-editor-in-chief of Agromeck. He works alongside Mandy Stacy, a fourth-year studying English, to pull together NC State’s storied yearbook.
A Cary, North Carolina native, wasn’t interested in the ins and outs of putting together a school yearbook until his sophomore year at NC State.
“I got into it, and I really enjoyed it because I love working with design,” Bui said. “I love working using Adobe, and I was able to get the hang of it pretty quickly.”
In spring 2020, Bui landed his first leadership role as the web editor. From there, his passion for Agromeck only grew, leading him to apply for the design editor position and, later down the line, editor-in-chief.
“I applied to be the design editor because I love design, and I was able to get that position,” Bui said. “It was a great experience — I learned a lot from that, and it wasn’t until I [realized] I really liked being in a leadership role and having creative freedom. That’s why I applied to be editor-in-chief.”
Due to extraneous time commitments for both Bui and Stacy, they mutually agreed to share the role to ease the burden of such a formidable job. The fact that they’ve known each other since middle school only made things easier.
“Mandy, for example — she’s applying to law school, and for me, I’m student teaching in the spring, so we have a lot of things going on,” Bui said. “That’s why we decided, why don’t we just split the role.”
On a day-to-day basis, Bui and Stacy work together to copy edit stories, collaborate on live event coverage, manage the Agromeck staff and more. With all the things Bui alone is in charge of on a weekly basis, it can be difficult to balance a fourth-year workload and the yearbook all at once.
“Right now, it’s okay and I’m able to balance it because it’s not too bad,” Bui said. “It’s going to be more of a challenge next semester when I’m a full-time student teacher… it’s going to be interesting to see what happens next semester.”
Despite Bui’s busy schedule, he’s more than happy to be on-campus this semester at all. Covering campus events last year was difficult across all media outlets, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Now that we’re all back on campus and there’s events going on on-campus, it’s great because there’s a lot of things we can cover, there’s a lot of things we can highlight in our book,” Bui said. “I’m really glad to see that happen. Obviously, COVID is still a precaution, so I still want to make sure we’re taking that [seriously.]”
With an in-person semester, plenty more memories will be made around campus in Bui’s final year of his undergraduate degree. To date, he looks back on this past summer’s retreat as one of his favorite times with the Agromeck crew.
“Us and the leadership staff, we go on a retreat to Bald Head Island, which you take a ferry to get onto,” Bui said. “It’s a whole other world you’re on. It was just a great way for us to get to know one another and kind of have a connection and bond, especially to get prepared for this coming year.”
When he’s not running around the Agromeck office or studying, Bui enjoys cooking and taking walks, both of which he says are crucial for his mental health.
“Just taking some time to de-stress,” Bui said. “You know, take the time for self-care. That’s what I like to do with my free time.”
