William Floyd artist wins yearbook cover design

“Build Your Own Legacy” is the theme for the 2021 high school yearbook. William Floyd High School senior artist, Wahca-Waste Win, has been selected as this year’s yearbook cover art design winner.

Wahca-Waste Win, who is known by friends as Billy, designed a colorful illustration filled with various modes of travel. In it, a young woman holds her high school diploma with endless possibilities before her.

Billy draws her inspiration from her Sioux and Cherokee ancestry and, according to a press release, tries to picture and the feel the emotions of others in her art. She loves to create landscapes and puts positivity and happiness into all of her designs. Ever since she has picked up a pencil, she has immensely enjoyed creative native art to represent her heritage.

 “Billy is a risk-taker with her art,” said William Floyd School District chairperson of Fine Arts and Billy’s Advanced Placement art teacher Theresa Bianco. “She uses the skills she has learned and then jumps into her pieces using various mediums; she likes to work big, and expresses herself with vivid shapes and colors. Billy is proud of her heritage, she has learned much about beading and sewing from family members, and also symbolism, and those influences are evident in her artwork.”  

Billy has her sights set on pursuing a career in art – looking to pursue a degree in game design and animation. She has already been accepted to the Academy of Art University, and is waiting on decisions from the Pratt Institute, the Fashion Institute of Technology and the Savannah College of Art and Design.

In addition to winning this year’s yearbook cover design, Billy won an award last year at the Parrish Art Museum and Student Exhibition. 

Billy has attend William Floyd schools kindergarten through 12th grade including Tangier Smith Elementary School, William Paca Middle School and now William Floyd High School.

 William Floyd High School is proud to continue the tradition of using student artwork to grace the cover of each year’s high school yearbook. This tradition dates back to at least the 1980s and is one of the few remaining Long Island schools to do this. This year’s yearbook cover will be the first with a matte finish.

 For this cover design competition each year, students are tasked with writing a description of their cover proposal and how it incorporates the theme for the school year. Students create the work, which is then displayed for judging by students in AP art & portfolio classes, high school art teachers and administrators.

 Billy’s work was selected from among many wonderfully talented student artists at William Floyd High School, many of whom will also have their work featured in various spots throughout the yearbook.