LEADERSHIP
This year in particular has challenged my leadership skills, as some staffers have struggled with communication and work, leaving others to scramble and fix things at the last minute. In order to do well as a publication, your staff must have good communication, strong leadership, and a drive to succeed. As I've learned, if you're missing any of those key aspects your publication will ultimately suffer. With the issues we've experience this year, I have given it my all to resolve them as quickly as they appear, since it's my job as the editor-in-chief to lead my staffers through a productive year we can feel proud of.
Journalism
Sophomore Year: Equipment Manager
For my first leadership position, I was in charge of cleaning and keeping track of our cameras, as well as the things that go with them. On the sign out sheet, I would check equipment out to staffers when needed, making sure it was brought back within 48 hours. Once back, I was responsible to make sure nothing was missing or damaged, speaking up when anything was.
Junior Year: Assistant Website Editor
With no previous experience as a copy editor, I spent my summer practicing AP Style to make sure I did my job right. Being the final edit for stories meant I had to make sure they were free of errors, as anything published that didn't meet these expectations would be my responsibility. While editing was a main part of my role, the other part was making sure our publication completed SNO's Distinguished Site Awarded, which consisted of six badges that each focused on a specific area of journalism.
This involved updating our website, helping create a plan for social media, publishing a variety of story types, and more. With my diligence and motivation to achieve this recognition, we were able to receive this award for the first time ever.
Senior Year: Editor-in-Chief & Co-Assistant Web Editor
This position tested my abilities to speak up and lead the first day of school, and because of this, I have been able to grow as a leader. As editor-in-chief, I lead the entire Cougar Chronicle staff, making sure stories are published, deadlines are met, fundraisers are happening, things are posted on our socials, and most importantly, making sure our staff is working together efficiently. I've had to learn to take a step back and observe the overall production of our publication instead of hyper focusing on one thing like our website.
My job is to make the final executive decision for everything, which means doing the right thing for our publication, staffers, and the community who views our content. Each week, I lead our Monday meetings, where staffers pitch stories and give updates on started articles, as well as leadership meetings, where we review what we couldn't touch on in class.
As of second semester, our web assistant editor left the class, which caused our sports editor and I to absorb their position. Because of my experience last year, I have been working closely with the other co-AWE to make sure all stories published meet the standards we have in place. While this year has been full of extra responsibilities, I have already seen the ways it is shaping me as both a better leader and person.
Yearbook
Senior Year: Copy Editor
While photos are the main part of yearbook, the stories are just as important, since they capture the memories a camera can't. In prior years, the yearbook didn't contain any stories that followed AP style, rather blurbs that described things. So, with my experience in journalism I was given the role as their one and only copy editor.
My main job is to edit all things written, however, since nobody knew how to write in AP style, my job began with teaching them. Towards the begin of the year, I got up in front of the class a few times to teach them interviewing skills and how to properly quote people, but when it comes to their stories, I like to work one-on-one.
Since I don't get stories often enough, I find other areas where I can help out, like with the senior section and academic spreads. While I don't know as much as the other yearbook students, I pay close attention to what they teach me and apply it as quickly as I can. By the end of this year, I hope to know more about design and layout, as it's always been something I enjoy.
Broadcast
Senior Year: Script Editor
With my experience from journalism, I was able to get myself into a leadership position for the KUGR Broadcast. As the only script editor, my job is to make sure all scripts going into the weekly episodes are polished and free of errors. While I look at grammar and punctuation, I'm mainly look at how the scripts flow and ways to strengthen word choice and sentence structure.
Reading over each script at least three times is necessary, as I want to be sure they are the best they can be. While scripts won't be seen by anyone except staffers, they will be heard by our community, so each script must make sense and sound professional when spoken.
Much like yearbook, I joined this class to learn new skills that will broaden my journalistic knowledge, and so far, I have learned a lot. Videography has been something I taught myself, however, now that I'm in broadcast I am able to learn from students who know more than I do. Because of this, I have been able to improve my video editing and camera skills.
Path to a Distinguished Site
In the time leading up to my junior year, I watched as prior leadership staffers unsuccessfully tried to complete every SNO badge. So, over the summer towards my year as assistant web editor, I made a plan for how we would get them all. When the school year started, I made sure to communicate my ideas while explaining to staffers the importance of completing these badges.
Every day I would stay after school and work on our website, and during class I made sure each staffer was doing their part in the plan. This award is something that can't be done by one staffer, it's a group effort, which means everyone needed to participate.
With my persistence and determination, I gave the final push to achieve this recognition just days before the due date. While we were the very last school to be recognized as a SNO Distinguished Site, we were the very first Cougar Chronicle staff to achieve this recognition, and I could not be more proud.
This photo was taken the day we received the plaque for becoming a Distinguished SNO Site.
After we completed each award, we were able to put this icon on our homepage to show our accomplishment.
Summer Workshop
Each summer, the leadership staff gets together for around three days to prepare for the upcoming school year. During these meetings we spend the whole day going over different topics such as SNO badges, coverage ideas, printing plan, fundraisers, and more. Being able to start the school year with our foot in the door is very important, since it's very easy to fall behind throughout the year.
Not only that, but during these days we are given the chance to revise our staff handbook, where we update policies and change other things to better reflect our current publication. The summer workshop was also a great environment for me to practice my leadership skills as I entered into my position as EIC.
This was our agenda going into my year as EIC. Having a schedule like this helps us stay on track.
Monday Morning Meetings
Every Monday morning, I host a check in where staffers are able to pitch new stories while updating me with ones they're currently working on. These meetings usually take the full class period, as not only do we have a decent sized staff, but we also have staffers who like to write a lot of stories. It's my job to keep track of what everyone's doing, to make sure that people are writing their stories ethically and in a timely manner.
On our tracking document I note the type of story, the topic, where in the process it is, their deadline, and the Google Docs they are writing the story on. This information gives me the full picture of what's happening, so I understand where and when help is needed.
This is the document I use to keep track of everyone's stories. After each month, I create a new tab so it's not too overwhelming.
Leadership Meetings
Every Wednesday after school, I host our staff leadership meeting, where we discuss and plan for our publication. One main thing we always cover is what we are doing to make money, since we are a self-funded publication. Usually, this will be a check in with our business manager to make sure we have things in place, like a fundraiser, but if nothing is happening, I get the team rolling with some ideas.
Another common thing I go over are issue within our publication. Recently there has been a continuation of stories being edited poorly, so I used this space to check in with both my copy and assistant editors to see where the issues are happening. At the same time, I give staffers the chance to express any concerns they may have, as sometimes I don't see or miss things that have happened.
While most meetings are serious, there are times where we do more lighthearted things, like making videos for social media. I know for a portion of my staffers staying after school for 45 minutes isn't what they want to do, however, the time we spend in our meeting getting things done is less work we put on ourselves later in the year. Our meetings focus on things we need to do now, but at the same time we're prepping for later in the year and sometimes even for the next year.
Google Classroom Communication
This is the type of document I use to keep track of who was at the meeting and what we discussed.
This photo was taken by our sports editor during one of our leadership meetings, where we were discussed our plan of action before winter break.
A quick way to communicate something to the whole staff is through Google Classroom, since everyone has access to what's posted. Staffers have access to all the important things in Google Classroom, including draft documents, story ideas, meeting notes, and our daily plans, all of which I update frequently.
However, I don't just post materials for my staff, in fact, I find it important to create surveys for them to fill out. Because I am human and don't see everything that happens, I create check-in surveys asking reporters to explain how journalism went and what I can improve on as a leader. While some people had nothing to say, there were others who gave me good feedback on what I need to work on.
Another way I help my staffers is through periodic quizzes, which let me see where each staffer is at.
These were two of the questions that staffers had to answer.
Before our leadership meeting going over the pros and cons of the first semester, I decided to create a check-in survey for everyone, mainly to see any issues I have missed. Out of 28 people, I got 19 responses.
This comment was from a staffer that had concerns about our publication, which they left in the Semester Check-in Survey. Because of this, I've been able to change my approach as a leader.
After noticing common errors in stories, I decided to put together a small quiz to see what concepts people weren't understanding.
After having the staff take this quiz, I realized that I needed to reteach quote structure and parts of AP style.
As of second semester, I have noticed some staffers are still struggling with AP Style. Because of this, I decided to create weekly quizzes to help staffers understand the style of writing we follow.
Announcements are another way I can get my staffs attention when I need something done or want to share ideas. Reporters have the ability to respond to each post if they have any questions or comments they want to share.
I found a website called Platform Magazine that creates AP Style quizzes. Because I don't want staffers to cheat, I transferred the quizzes to Google Forms that can be monitored. These quizzes are short and will be a way to keep staffer's skills fresh.
5 Minute Mini Lessons
In the beginning of December, I started noticing some staffers not understanding specific things, like how to write a professional email or put quotes in the right format. Because of this I decided to create the 5 Minute Mini Lessons, where staffers can create a slideshow teaching their peers a new skill. If someone has an idea they pitch it to me, and once its approved, they are able to create it and share the link in our Google Doc.
From there, I am able to plug their slideshow into our Daily Slides planner, where after I'm done giving instructions they'll present. Even though it's a new thing, people caught on and were quick to help other staffers be the best they can be.
As recruitment time rolls around, I sent a message in the stream regarding the letter's leadership staffers will write.
This is the document that staffers can link their slideshows to, along with the day they plan to present.
Just recently, I did a lesson on Person Behind the Pin, since a majority of staffers didn't understand it. PBP gets posted on our social media, highlighting a student at CKHS with a cool pin.
The Daily Plans Slideshow
Each week, I'm responsible for updating our Daily Plans Slide, which is displayed during our class period for staffers to refer to. Every day there's an agenda that will explain to staffers things that they must do. Things like working on stories, 5MML, MMM, or Golden Plate are commonly shown.
For reminders, I try to put anything a staffer may forget, like an assignment or that we have a leadership meeting after school. Then off to side, I like to have any big deadlines or upcoming events, so staffers see exactly how much time they have left.
This is the slideshow I use every morning for our daily plans.
