Leadership + Team Building
Page Editor
If it wasn't for Edge, our advisor, there is little chance I would be a Supervising Editor at Large this year. It all started when she asked me to take on the role of Page Editor junior year, my first year on staff. I was initially hesitant as I wasn't sure how involved I wanted to be in the newspaper, but as soon as I set foot at deadline I knew thats where I wanted to spend my time. I loved the raw energy and the intense pressure that pushed us to strive for creativity late into our Monday night deadlines. I knew I wanted to be as involved as possible - to help out and to make an impact. I also knew that I only had one chance to show my capability and determination as the next year would be my last before graduation so I gave it everything I had. I volunteered to help at every opportunity, designed a page every week, and came to every deadline. When something went wrong, a Page Editor quit out, or leadership was struggling, I stepped up to the plate. Due to my prior knowledge and familiarity with Adobe products and design software overall, I had many opportunities to teach the other Page Editors and even much of leadership new skills. I also took every chance I could to bond with the senior staffers and leadership; I wanted to learn from them and I had a deep respect for them, especially our dual Editors in Chief Liz Bigham and Jack John Francis. At first, I viewed them as mentors and leaders, but, as the year progressed, I began to view them as some of my closest friends. Through my trips with Tower for NSPA or just from helping out with different projects, I was able to bond with these excellent journalists. I credit them with giving me the opportunity to become a leader my senior year. I tried my upmost to demonstrate integrity, ingenuity, and innovativeness inside and outside the design room, but in the end it was on the recommendation of these amazing leaders that I became Supervising Editor at Large
Supervising Editor at Large
Near the end of last year, all of the staffers began applying for whatever positions they wished to attain the following year. I knew I was rather behind my peers, having only been on staff for a single year, but I was going to pour my heart out. Our advisor admitted she was slightly annoyed by the overflowing application that I handed in, but she respected the hard work and dedication I had put into that application and the year as a whole. Thanks to that and the recommendation of our previous Editors in Chief, I became the Supervising Editor at Large. Essentially, I am directly in charge of the design and Page Editor team. Of course, I am also intimately involved in the overall direction of the newspaper and other operations. Now that I had this position, I wanted to live up to my own expectations and those that I had laid out in my staff application. I started the year focussed solely on acclimating to my new leadership role and preparing the staff for the exciting year of excellence to come. I, along with other top leadership, created new design guidelines with our clear style guide. I also hosted weekly Page Editor meetings to establish our expectations and goals for the year. One of my main focusses this year has been to get Page Editors enthusiastic about their work and proud of their designs. I work hard at deadlines to provide constructive feedback and try to maintain a positive attitude that leads to an enjoyable work environment. Once the initial hiccups were ironed out, I took a more participative role and once again designed pages. This allowed to lead by example and work side by side with my staff. Along with my responsibilities at deadline to ensure the design is smooth, I also am in charge of leading my Tower hour during the school week everyday. This means putting together the calendar, leading story pitches, and ensuring people remain on task.
Leading Sixth Hour
We have three different hours of Tower in the school day, and I am in sixth hour. As the highest leadership in that hour, it was up to me to lead the class. This means that I help create and coordinate the daily schedule, schedule presentations, and run story pitches. Every day, I stand up at the front of our 30 person class and lead the class in our daily routines. I try hard to get everyone involved when we do things like reviewing our previous issue PDFs or story pitches. Part of my job is to make everyone feel comfortable and to get them involved. One of the best ways to do this is to become close with the staffers in my hour, so, when I am done with the important announcements for the day and everyone disperses to do their jobs, I walk around and bond with the people in my hour. We also try some unique techniques to get people involved such as having people stand up during story pitches and sit down when they are done or keeping things lighthearted with it more conversational. After running the formal beginning of the class, I help out everyone else with a variety of problems: people having trouble with stories, Page Editors trying to plan their designs, and much more. Even if I have my own Tower related business to handle, I still am available and approachable.
Leading Deadline
This is where the magic happens. Every Friday and Monday the team of Page Editors, Copy Editors, and leadership. come together to make the newspaper. This is where my leadership matters the most as we try to run everything smoothly and finish before midnight. I spend most of the time walking around the design room from computer to computer as I check in on the different designers and help them out. I try to keep everything positive by giving constructive tips and phrasing things kindly. I also want the Page Editors to improve and not just make the paper good so, when I help them fix something, I try to teach them a new skill. One of the important steps in our process is our board meetings. When a Page Editor thinks they are done with their page, we have them come up to the front room and project their page on the board. This allows multiple members of leadership to look at the page so we catch those tiny mistakes. We are careful to ensure we are not ganging up the Page Editor so it is a very casual discussion which the Page Editors are very involved in.
We also try to incorporate some more fun aspects into deadline. One of these great things is our family dinners. We all get together during one deadline a month and sit at a huge table for dinner. Everyone puts their phones in the middle so we just talk and relax. It's a really nice break from the stressful and adrenaline filled design room, but it is also a nice time to bond with the other leadership and our fellow staffers. This is an amazing team bonding opportunity for everyone. Tower is an amazing mixing pot of every grade and background so it's a time when we can interact with people we wouldn't normally hang out with. Tower deadline is a blast in so many other ways: we always have fun music playing, everyone is high energy and super excited, and we all love the creative fervor.
