The Smoke Signal — Stafford High School — Volume 63, Issue 15, Page D6
By Gillian Ludlow, Student Life Editor
Students are wrapping up their high school careers and preparing themselves for college. Most students will be leaving their high school memories behind and friends will be missed. “I will definitely miss my friends. I love that I’m guaranteed to see familiar faces every day,” said Andrew Mussey.
If there is one thing Mussey wants, it is to leave an impression. “I hope to leave behind some sort of legacy. I hope to be one of those people who can come back and people will remember who I am,” said Mussey. “People in 10 years will say, ‘Hey remember that one weird kid who always dressed in black and solved all of our little technical problems?’”
Mussey has a crazy life outside of school. “I’m a teenage geek. I love hanging out with friends like anyone else, but I enjoy helping those who’re having technology-based problems,” said Mussey. “I also do some freelance web design. I’ve made pages for The Free Lance-Star, Life in the Gun Shell comics, local Boy Scout troops, and much more. I also love photography.”
“My best memory of high school was probably the band trips,” he added. “It sounds really lame, but the trip is maybe two percent of actual band-related stuff. The rest is just hanging out with friends.”
Mussey has been a member of the Technology Student Association (TSA) since 2006 and a class representative for the Student Council since 2006. Outside of school, he has been an active member of Youth Group since 2001 and received his Eagle Scout rank in 2007.
For the past two years, Mussey has served as treasurer for SkillsUSA, an organization that connects students with real-life occupations and teaches them workplace skills, leadership, and how to compete against students from other schools and regions in applied technical skills.
His list of awards is extensive. He won second place at the Regional SkillsUSA for C++ programming, the silver medal at SkillsUSA and District SkillsUSA for technical math, a technical drafting award, and the gold medal at the District Animation and technical drafting exam. Other awards include Perfect Attendance, first place for photography at the school, county, and district level in 2005 and 2007, and the Academic letter in 2006 with A/B Honor Roll from 2005–07.
Mussey has also been a photographer and webmaster for The Free Lance-Star’s it! and Myline sections since 2006. He maintains his own website, which he started in 2004, called AJAMA. Visitors can find his Life in the Gun Shell comics at ajama.org.
Along with being a SkillsUSA officer, Mussey was involved in multiple extracurricular activities: marching band and German club since 2004, the Japanese club, and Tribe of Pride. He says his greatest accomplishment is one that can’t be put on a résumé.
“Surviving high school, finding the greatest group of friends in the world, and being able to stay active while maintaining a high GPA is probably my biggest accomplishment,” said Mussey.
Mussey will be heading to Virginia Tech this fall.