Introduction
Being a strong editor and leader means, above all else, recognizing the potential in other people and helping them chase that. In my experience, I’ve worked with a lot of very talented, but shy people. People who work well with others, give great feedback, and produce amazing work, but when it comes to taking initiative, speaking up, or applying for higher positions — which they are more than qualified for — they step back. It is difficult to place someone in a position you know they’re ready for when they don’t feel ready for it. Distinguishing the line between challenging someone and overstepping their boundaries is crucial. I’ve learned that always being transparent with expectations and intentions and asking where staffers see themselves or what they want out of editor relationships is one of the most helpful communication tools. Success for one person might mean becoming Editor-in-Chief of the paper. Success for another is publishing a weekly column. One isn’t above the other, and that must be recognized publicly. It’s the editor’s role to ensure staffers are guided in setting goals and meeting them, and are constantly testing their limits and finding inspiration.
This year, I’ve worked toward emphasizing the expectation and importance of researching before pitching story ideas. We’ve had a problem in the past where someone pitches news stories or profiles, which they find out one or two weeks later aren’t actually true, or that person wasn’t comfortable sharing their story. To prevent this from setting us back later in the issue cycle, we’ve set guidelines for story ideas: that they must have reached out and confirmed with sources they’re comfortable with being interviewed, a detailed angle, photo, design, and alternative coverage ideas. They’re mandated to have at least three ideas, either copy related or visual, in the document, and then once class approaches, they pitch and present one, editors will ask questions, staffers can fact check, and ideas will be written on our whiteboard and then sorted by editors into assignments. This year, another new rule has been set in place that every staff member must have at least two assignments per issue. This keeps everyone active, engaged, and accountable. Having staffers formally pitch their ideas in a room of people helps them build confidence and motivates them to do their research beforehand!
Every good edit has to have three elements: what’s good or great about this and why, what needs to be improved and why, and what changes can be made and how. Explaining why something was done well or poorly in connection to the central idea of their project guides staffers in their quest for improvement. Then, they’re not only making changes and clicking out of edits for your approval, but they’re doing so to ensure their story or design is the best that it can be. Every editor has their strengths. I know some editors on staff who are very well-versed in grammar, punctuation and AP style. Others who understand anecdotes and narrative details. I’m very structured and main message-oriented. I try my best to pick apart details, but mostly my focus is giving lengthy comments that describe how readers will connect with that story or visual and why that’s positive or negative, or what’s missing/most important. Besides leaving smaller comments, I try making it a habit to have paragraphs at the top of documents describing my overall thoughts, starting with what they did really well, what I’m feeling is missing, and how they can go about making changes. I think for copy, it’s best to make edits remotely and work through them in person. Whereas, for design, just going through their elements in person and going off of initial reactions is more helpful in making revisions. You process different media differently, so you should edit them differently. But the bottom line, those in-person conversations are what staffers find to be most comfortable and productive.
This year, we’ve implemented a new system for staff that prompts more feedback circulation. We publish monthly, so issue cycles are between two and four weeks. Every Thursday, before sending pages the following Monday, staffers must have their completed copy or design drafts submitted. Writers must turn in physical copies of their stories, which can be marked up and passed back. Designers submit their drafts to a shared OneDrive folder. At the start of class, we go through each design draft on the classroom TV screen, and everyone gives feedback (ex. comments on spacing, alignment, dominant, interactive headline ideas, etc.). Staffers are expected to take notes throughout this process and make revisions by that Friday (copy) or Sunday (design) night. These table reads are meant to maximize the quality of content and give people practice with making edits and giving constructive feedback. This hard deadline, and the fact that everyone will be looking at it, gives staffers more urgency to have their work submitted.
Head copy and design editors are expected to make deadlines and publicize them after all content is assigned. Because this year, editors have taken breaks, or there wasn’t someone who applied for design editor, it’s caused my Co-Editor-in-Chief to take over and establish rolling deadlines. Each issue starts on a Tuesday, when story ideas are due, and assignments are divided out. The following Thursdays are when the first, second, and final drafts are due. Each class period, it’s expected that section editors check in with their writers, designers, and potentially photographers (if present in class) and discuss progress checks, what’s needed, and mapping out the rest of that issue cycle. Outside of class, it’s also expected that section editors check in with their staffers once over text or call and report back to head editors.
After distributing our paper, the entire staff gathers up with their copy of our issue and reads through it for 15-20 minutes. We call this time “markups” as they make comments in pen or pencil about what design elements stood out to them, what more perspectives one story could have covered, what was missing from a photo story, and more. Not only is it beneficial to look through the work of all your staff members, which further emphasizes our collaborative efforts in making one thing that matters, but having time away from our own work and then looking back with fresh eyes has helped us recognize errors or room for improvement. Critique typically takes over half of an entire class period. Once everyone has finished markups, they give kudos to staff members and also talk about what they can improve on next issue. At the end of critiques, my Co-Editor-in-Chief and I have also started rewarding “Issue MVPs” with small prizes like candy or stuffed animals, these results stem from a Google form that all staffers fill out and vote on. Through being in this program, I’ve come to understand how difficult staying motivated can be when you feel that no one notices the hard work you’re doing, or even what you’re producing. Having people read your entire story, or closely look at a design or photo, and then speak to what they appreciated has really boosted positivity and confidence on staff this year.
This year, worknights have become mandatory. Of course, this can be difficult with how many exceptions there are for appointments, sports, and sometimes work. But, that is why the expectation is set very early that every Monday from after school and until at least 4:30 or 5:00 there will be worknights. Collaborating in person has given staffers the motivation and boost to problem-solve, ask questions, and work diligently. It’s helpful for editors to physically see where people are at, how productive they are, and how they can best be helped. This year, to ensure high worknight attendance, a grade has been made. Any staffer who cannot attend worknights is responsible for letting their section editor, head editor, and EIC’s know when and why they cannot attend.
Send pages nights have also been restructured to where all staffers must attend and check that every element is on their page, spread, or package (ex. folios, fonts, headlines, subheadlines, bylines, correct copy, edited photos, and more). After they’ve done that and checked in with their group, they can leave. Staffers know their content better than editors, so it diminishes chances for errors when they’re also checking through everything before sending. All pages are printed out and marked up by three people. The third editor to make markups must go into InDesign, make changes, and redrop that page or spread into a ready-for-print folder. In the past, we haven’t printed pages out, and only one person would proofread before sending pages. Staffers also weren’t invited to send pages, making the process more stressful for editors, and fewer errors were caught. These worknights are also a great bonding and learning opportunity.
Another change we’ve consciously implemented this year is having section editors. With our staff size having nearly doubled since my freshman year and seeing so much eagerness, initiative, and talent among staff members, it made the most sense to give them editor positions that were specific, lower stakes, and added more support throughout our publication. Having a sports, opinion, feature, news, and arts and entertainment editor had encouraged collaboration and routine check-ins. It’s also increased communication among head editors and given staffers more opportunities to ask questions, bounce ideas, receive edits, and get help making revisions. There has been a lot of trial and error in deciding what content falls under which editor. And because certain section editors are also head editors, finding ways to get another set of eyes on content can feel like we’re scrambling. But overall, this may be one of the decisions I’m most proud of my staff for implementing, and as the publication grows, I hope that system does too.
Every couple of months, head editors (yearbook, newspaper, or photojournalism) from the Shawnee Mission School District will meet at one of the high schools. This rotates, and we discuss issues on staff and get advice from other editors on how to solve them. Issues that my fellow editors have heard or brought up include staff members who refuse to meet deadlines, covering sensitive or controversial topics, finding ideas and coverage when the staff is coming up short, and more. Having the support and reliance on other editors who experience similar issues in different settings is incredibly beneficial and comforting. I’m still in contact with a newspaper EIC from Shawnee Mission West who graduated two years ago and now writes for the Daily Nebraskan. Establishing connections outside of my school has been a mix of stress (competitiveness) and rewarding, striking that balance makes creating lessons, having awkward conversations, and grading much easier.
Besides having quarterly parties and deadline celebrations, my Co-Editor-in-Chief has decided to bring back Issue MVP’s from our freshman year. Celebrating people publicly for the work they do, this fosters a positive environment where people are more motivated to produce work they’re proud of. Mandating attendance at worknights, and eating dinner together at send pages, or having intermittent Just Dance breaks do wonders in creating bonds with each other. Even if roll questions only take five minutes out of our day, that five minutes three times a week for an entire school year makes people comfortable with each other, and helps them acknowledge that on a deeper level. One of my favorite ways that I’ve bonded with people throughout my time on staff has been through collaborating on different projects. The most prominent examples include an extended feature on President Trump’s executive orders targeting immigration policies and emphasizing how immigrant students at Northwest feared everyday tasks such as driving, going to school, or even opening their front door. I worked on this piece with two staffers, one who was bilingual and was able to interview Spanish-speaking students. My focus was on interviewing district officials, such as our superintendent, and talking with local legislators. The third staffer researched the role of and interviewed law enforcement. We spent hours on the phone, at libraries, and sitting in my adviser’s office debating or questioning each line, anecdote, fact, and ending. I’ve also worked with a staffer on two stories that illustrated how our school processed the death of four students in 13 months. One of them, highlighting our football team won 1st place NSPA Sports Story of the Year at the 2025 JEA Fall Convention in Nashville. I was once averse to the idea of sharing bylines, but now it’s instinctual, and I’m so grateful for opportunities that’ve gifted me this mindset.
From the moment I started getting into photography late into my junior year, I’d known this had to become a more focal point of coverage on my staff. Looking through other papers for inspiration, I’d realized that most publications either have stunning, bright, and colorful visuals, but their copy is lacking in substance, timeliness, or meaning. Or it was the other way around. My staff leans slightly toward that second option. I am most passionate about weaving words and images together in the style of reporting that journalists for the New York Times or the Washington Post do. I presented on how publications can incorporate powerful photo stories into their papers, magazines, or yearbooks to make content more compelling at the 2025 JEA Fall Nashville Convention. Afterwards, some people came up to me asking for contact information, and I’m still in touch with some of them from as far as California and Virginia. Giving this presentation was not only empowering, but it also fed me the confidence to connect with other young journalists and lead my staff toward innovative and alternative routes of coverage.
To expand my journalistic knowledge beyond what my classroom offers, I attended The School of the New York Times Summer Academy in the summer of 2025. I enrolled in a class on investigative journalism, and part of our assignment was to work in small groups and write an investigative piece on anything going on in New York City. I learned how to get narrative details from things like court documents or police records. I learned how to file a FOIA request. And how to get in touch faster with powerful people, and why holding them accountable is so important. This class is what pushed me to create a new system for story pitches, which requires staffers have more research that strengthens their angles. We were given the slideshows to share with our staff by our instructors, both investigative reporters for the New York Times. I also attended the George Mason Media Conference in the summer of 2024. At that conference, I began to understand how journalism can help in other aspects of life or feed into different career paths. Most of the people I’ve spoken with on that trip didn’t plan on going into journalism; they wanted to pursue law, diplomacy, education, and more. But journalism, unpacking issues, meeting tight deadlines, conversing with and contacting different types of people, and more, helps them achieve goals outside of this field, which was truly inspiring. I didn’t just leave these trips with friendships and…a lot less money, but lessons I’ve applied on staff each day that demonstrate grit, curiosity, and inclusivity.