The 1975–1976 school year marked the national bicentennial, the 25th anniversary of the opening of Williams, and the 50th anniversary of the school's yearbook, the "Doe-Wah-Jack"; this had been the name of the yearbook at the former Burlington High School. According to Gillespie, yearbook staff members who saw the word on a local stove learned that it is an American Indian word meaning "the first, the best". This was submitted to students and was chosen as the name of the yearbook.