Yearbook Staff Continues Bomb Legacy

“It is such an incredible feeling to encapsulate everything VMI has to offer.”

That’s what Cadet Christina Skaggs ’22 has to say about her role as editor-in-chief of VMI’s yearbook, the Bomb.

For 136 years, the yearbook staff has carried a long and proud legacy of documenting life at VMI through this annual publication.

“The first Bomb yearbook was created in 1885, and it is an honor knowing that [we] continue its legacy 136 years later,” said Skaggs. “Every class has a story, every cadet has a story, and the Bomb is able to share those stories.”

“Working on it puts pressure on us to correctly represent the year for the future generations to understand what cadet life was like in the past,” Cadet Katie Feng ’22 added.

Capturing the highs and lows of the Corps in each Bomb takes a lot of planning. At the beginning of the academic year, the yearbook staff meets to plan out what the year’s yearbook will look like.

“We organize every single page of the yearbook from start to finish,” Skaggs explained.

Each Bomb consists of five main sections: Portraits, Corps events, clubs, NCAA sports, and advertisements. The team works hard to include the big moments of the year and all the small moments in between.

“We want people to look back and remember exactly what happened that year,” Feng said. “It takes a lot of planning to make sure we get the main events, such as Matriculation Week, the dances, Ring Figure, graduations, and Breakout.”

Cadets Alexis Wade ’22 and Jessica Hankin ’22 agreed that photographing Breakout is a highlight of their year.

“It’s an incredible opportunity to get to capture such a memorable moment in these people’s lives,” Hankin commented.

“My favorite moments to photograph are the ones where the Corps comes together to accomplish something big or have a grand time,” Wade added.

Creating the 2021 Bomb amid the COVID-19 pandemic was a difficult endeavor for the yearbook staff.

“It was hard to make the yearbook during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Skaggs stated. “It was not easy with all the COVID-19 protocols.”

“Everyone looked the same with masks on, which prevented us from getting the full facial expressions of the rats huffing and puffing or the cadets actually smiling during events,” Feng added.

Despite the challenges, Skaggs and the yearbook staff are proud of what they accomplished with the 2021 Bomb.

“Creating a yearbook amid COVID-19 was one of the most difficult experiences of my cadetship, but seeing the finished product was one of my proudest moments,” Skaggs stated. “I hope that this Bomb brings pride and joy to the Class of 2021 and every other class in barracks, and I hope the Bomb continues to thrive for the future generations to come.”