Q: There are a few questions that I would like to ask you for this interview. I would like to start off by asking if I could please have your name and your grade?
A: “My name is Rylie Keagy, and I’m in twelfth grade.”
Q: How do you feel about being a part of the Mountain Echo and Horseshoe?
A: “To be a part of the Mountain Echo and Horseshoe yearbook, it’s a great opportunity and experience that I’ve gotten to enjoy for the past four years in high school. They’re both great programs. I get to voice my opinion and do the things that I enjoy, and people get to see these things.”
Q: What kind of writings have you been proud of the most?
A: “As for writings, this is my first year on Mountain Echo staff, so I’ve done a lot of my work in the yearbook room. Sometimes we do stories in our yearbook. My sophomore year, I did a golf story in the yearbook, and then most recently for the Mountain Echo, I did a story on Homecoming week, and then senior mentors. The one I’m working on right now is about SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) and Red Ribbon Week coming up and what the pledge means to them. That’s a little bit of my writing background.”
Q: I’ve read, when I looked up your name on Mountain Echo, that you are a Design Editor. Is that true?
A: “Yes, so Design Editor of the yearbook. I was the Photography Editor for yearbook sophomore and junior year, but this year I have taken on Design Editor, so I’m switching from dealing with cameras and the photos that get put into our book to the design elements and the overall look of our book.”
Q: What exactly do you do as a Design Editor, anything specific?
A: “As Design Editor, the staff members will create some mock design of what they want their spread to look like. They give ideas of what they want to put on their spread. And I review it, and our editor in chief, Addi McDonald, reviews it, and then we allow them to create their spread. There are templates that we created that kind of guide them. But then, once their spread is all finished, the captions, the designs, the spread is done. I work with Addie, and we make sure the design is cohesive. All the designs are cohesive enough, and they match our theme, and all the elements are aligned properly. Just little stuff like that goes into design.”
Q: Do you enjoy the work that you do as a Design Editor?
A: “Yeah, I really enjoy all that kind of work. Design is really what I actually want to go into for college. I want to do a little bit of graphic design as well as marketing. Just being in yearbook in general, has really sparked my interest in it, and I’m really glad that it’s helped guide me to where I want to go to college.”
Q: What do you look forward to the most as a Design Editor?
A: “I love seeing everybody’s ideas. Sometimes people can be so closed minded, or they think that they’re always right, or how their design should go. To see everybody’s ideas come to life, and to see different ways and variations of things is so cool, because sometimes like me myself, I can be a little bit close minded and just think one way. To see some people think outside the box, it’s so fun.”
Q: Now I want to ask, are there any other school activities that you’re part of?
A: “I am on the dance team, the Lioneers. I’m one of the captains, along with Sydney Hockenos, and I’ve been on since freshman year. Dance has always been a part of my life, so to bring it into the school is so fun. And then a couple clubs that I’m involved in are FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) and SADD; I’m the Vice President. And Girls League is always super fun. I was the secretary last and then I’m in our National Honor Society.
Q: Why did you decide to join those kinds of activities? Is there any specific reason that piqued your interest?
A: “For Lioneers, I joined just because dance has always been a big part of my life, so I really wanted to. That was my first thing, because you had to join in eighth grade. You had to audition in eighth grade for incoming freshmen. That was my first big step to getting involved in high school and then for Girls League. And for SADD, to be honest, a lot of my friends were doing it, so I kind of read up on it, and it’s honestly just about helping the community and just making a lot of friendships. Those are what those clubs are mainly about. It’s just helping the community and just getting to gain friendships. It’s been really nice to be involved in them.”
Q: What kind of feelings do you get? How do you feel about participating in those school activities?
A: “It makes me really happy because I’m very fortunate to have the capability to be able to be involved in the school activities. And also, like I said, all these friendships. There’s so many caring people because they want to be in that club to care for the community and for the people, for example, we fundraise for and so to just be around such caring people, it makes me feel very fortunate, and there’s no negativity. It’s just all positive.”
Q: How much do you enjoy being in the school activities? Do you enjoy one more activity more than you enjoy another, or do you enjoy them all equally?
A: “I think I tend, physically, to enjoy the yearbook room and our dance team more, just because I’ve taken such a big interest in what yearbook has to offer. And since I’ve been dancing for so long, I’ve just always had the happiness that it brings me. I think those two things I take a lot of pride in, a little bit more than the Other ones.”
Q: What do you do outside of school? Are you involved in anything like an activity or just something in general that is outside of school, not like part of that?
A: “Outside of school, I do dance. I am on a dance team. It takes up a good amount of my time, but if I’m not dancing, and I do have a little bit of free time and I’m not doing homework or anything, I do enjoy reading. During the summer I do swimming. I don’t do many other activities, just because so much of my time is taken up, though.”
Q: So you kind of have to figure out time management?
A: “Yes. It’s all about time management.”
Q: Do you always have a routine for everything you do?
A: “My days are typically all the same, besides school on a couple of days a week. We, for example, have Lioneer practice for the school, after school until four o’clock, and then I’ll go home and I’ll do homework, and sometimes for yearbook, we have to do photo albums. So I’ll go take some photos, and then I go to dance practice, and then I go home, and I do more homework, and then I go to bed, and it’s all repeated.
Q: Is there anything else that you would like to add?
A: “It’s just important to always spread positivity and kindness. You never know what people are going through, so the best you can do for somebody is just always be kind.”