Mustang News Tailgate
By Juliet Saunders, journalism senior
The Mustang News “family” was out in force on Saturday, Nov. 7, to kick off a yearlong 100th anniversary celebration with a tailgate barbecue on campus.
About 50 alumni, students, faculty and staff visited with friends and reminisced about their time on staff with Cal Poly’s student media. The barbecue was the first of many events planned to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Mustang News.
Members of the Journalism Advisory Board also stopped by after their semi-annual board meeting that morning. The 2015 honored alumnus from the College of Liberal Arts, ABC News Correspondent David Kerley (Journalism ’79), was seen mingling with former classmates and giving career advice to recent graduates, who shared some of their memories.
Karlee Prazak (Journalism ’12) drove from San Diego, where she now works for GoPro, just to be a part of the gathering.
“Working for the Mustang Daily was probably the best decision I ever made,” said Prazak, who was the managing editor her last year at Cal Poly.
Sarah Gilmore (Journalism ’13) came with friends she met at Mustang Daily, where she was arts editor and then managing editor. Gilmore is now in graduate school studying occupational therapy.
“Mustang Daily very quickly became a family for me. It was really great to work with a great forum of people who were all committed to the same cause,” said Gilmore. “We are all such great friends and we still keep in touch.”
“I loved working for the paper. It was possibly the best decision I made in the time I went to Poly,” said Kaytlyn Leslie (Journalism ’13), a reporter for The Tribune in San Luis Obispo. Leslie was editor-in-chief and news editor “The second I joined I felt like I was part of something truly wonderful.”
JJ Jenkins (Business ’14), now a finance associate at Apple, was sports editor and then editor-in-chief during the transitional year when Mustang News became Cal Poly’s digital-first, integrated news organization. Jenkins said, “I loved working with all my friends on something that felt like it had an impact on our school.”
Shelley Westerson (Journalism ’15) is now working as a freelance multimedia journalist. Her favorite part about Cal Poly and working for Mustang News? “Meeting so many incredible people who made me grow as a person and professionally.”
“I had a lot of fun while I was here,” said Katrina Borges (Journalism ’14). “I came out here for mostly nostalgic reasons. I’m glad I came.” Borges works in retail in San Luis Obispo and hopes to find a journalism job soon.
The 100th anniversary celebration will continue throughout 2016, concluding with a Celebration Weekend Oct. 14 and 15.