Leadership
MENTORSHIP
Being a mentor to many of our staffers and editors is by far the most rewarding part of my position as print EIC. Coming in my sophomore year, I looked up immensely to the leadership team of our paper, they were always eager and ready to teach and help us whenever needed.
It can be incredibly daunting in your first few papers, especially in our program where the production of content is very independent and student driven. Going into my junior year as an EIC I wanted the staffers to feel they could come to me for anything.
As that year drew to an end, we were faced with he task of preparing our staff to go into the next year, meaning we needed to train new page editors to take over for the seniors. I jumped at the opportunity.
With my extensive design experience, I guided three new editors in designing their pages (see right), and those editors are now creating contest worthy pages for this years papers.
Being a good mentor isn’t about just showing someone the steps and leaving them to it, it’s about working with them and guiding them to discover their own journalistic style. It’s about using your own talents to support the development of their journalistic skills and pushing them to create content that displays those skills.
I care deeply about every member of our staff and I believe in their success no matter what. I think that’s what makes me a good leader, making sure every staffer knows I am with them, not above them, and I believe in them.
PRINT DUTIES
As the print editor-in-chief, I am responsible for getting the ball rolling for our print edition this includes; creating templates, helping assign stories, and keeping track of story and page progress.
Templates:
I am responsible for creating our page Templates each issues. Our paper uses Adobe InDesign to create pages, and before each issue my job is to create new files for each of our 16 pages. When creating templates I have to update folios, colors, and any changes to design elements made in-between issues, as well as double check each page has correct font presets and has all elements needed to begin designing. This process usually takes me a class or two.
Assigning Stories:
This job mainly belongs to my managing editor, but it is my responsibility to support her in making decisions about story subjects, and assigning the stories to the write reporters. This year we sat down together to come up with a new strategy to ensure story quality that involved deciding which stories would be in print and which would be online during the writing cycle, as opposed to before.
Tracking Progress:
As the print EIC it is not only my job to ensure pages and stories are created and assigned but also to keep track of their progress as the cycle progresses. Check-ins with page editors about design and story progress are a daily routine for me, especially ensuring that I can make myself availible for staffers if an issue arises. After all, my job as a leader is to teach and push our staffers to be their best.
Setting an Example:
Good leadership isn’t about just telling people what to do and making sure they do it, oftentimes it’s about setting that example of excellence. I feel I accomplish that by pushing myself to create excellent journalism everyday. Sometimes when people get stuck, all it takes is a good example to inspires them and push them to create wonderful content
Team Building
COMMUNICATION:
One thing me and my Managing Editor knew was going to be really important going into this year was prioritizing communication. One idea I advocated for was having leadership meetings every issue to discuss concerns or questions from page editors to make sure we, as the head of the paper, were listening to our page editors and making decisions based on the team as a whole. We did this mostly in the beginning of the 25-26 school as we were making a few big changes to the process of story assignments and editing, and wanted to make sure the page editors were feeling good about those changes
TEAMS/HOUSES:
Over the summer before the 25-26 school year, I met with our Managing Editor to discuss different ways to bring our staff together going into the new year. We wanted to promote team morale and create an environment where every staff member felt like they belonged. My managing Editor proposed creating ‘Hogwarts style houses’ to connect staffers who create similar content. I worked with her to place students in the houses and brainstorm ways to implement them in our class.
ICE BREAKERS/GAMES:
At the beginning of the year when we welcome new incoming staff members, our Managing Editor and I plan out fun ice breakers for our team to prepare us for the year ahead. This year, the print and online EICs came together to come up with a real life fashion show using only newspapers. It was a big hit with our staff and a great start to the year.
