A good publication relies on multiple good leaders. Taking on the backbone of a 50 person staff was hectic at times, but they became family. From managing productivity to diffusing staff disputes, being a leader is a game of people. It's about pushing people in the right direction.

This coverage because of the thought-out-coordination behind the coverage. A student tipped me off about the protest a day before it happened, so that same afternoon I selected two photographers and one reporter to prepare. As they gathered content, I wrote the story from the news room live. When the walk out began, I hopped on the phone with my reporter and fed him interview questions as I wrote. Within two hours of the walk out, we had published a full gallery and article detailing why the protest happened and what it meant.

Recognition: Best of SNO; 2025 ILPC First place online IAA news & Top in Texas

Ever since I joined, Student media held monthly editorial leadership meetings to organize publication scheduling, discuss policy updates and vote on organization. When I assumed the Executive editor position in 2025, I took charge of crafting the monthly agenda. Throughout the week I listen for issues and complaints within my staff, adding to that month’s agenda as I go.

In September, I invited representatives from media publications outside of Student Media such as the editors from the Audio class, commercial photography class, literary magazine and broadcast class. This marked the first time all publications in my school united and since then they attend the monthly meetings too.

Copy editing is my second language. My staff follows an assembly line of editing from the section editor, website Editor-in-Chief then me. Before I put ink to paper, I read the entire article to get a feel of the article.. If it is missing information, lacking interviews or feels unfinished I note that on the back. Then I dig in, converting the story to AP style. For beginner reporters I leave notes explaining purpose behind my edits. I end every story on a positive note, writing something they did well.

Student Media relies on Basecamp to coordinate between publications. In basecamp, you can create position roles, projects, assignments, schedules and card tables. This is where staffers can message editors and each other, see their deadlines and pitch ideas. At the beginning of the 2025 year, I sat down with my web editor-in-chief and yearbook editor-in-chief to teach them how to navigate and assign with basecamp.

In summer 2025 I took the news room leadership class at Gloria Shields national workshop where I made my first workflow for reporting. Humans are like to check something off, so following a step-by-step guide can be key to starting them off. More than a dopamine hit, encouraging staffers to report their steps allows my editors and I to find where they may be getting confused and or taking too long. I’ve learned students tend to avoid asking for help until the last minute, workflows are my solution. 

Due to a lack of communication between yearbook editor-in-chiefs, the 2024-2025 yearbook spreads only started by mid-March, so we worked into summer. I would say "we," but only the web editor-in-chief, a photographer and I showed. Every weekday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. I was at the school working on the book. When my summer swim got in the way, I’d work on during my swim meets. We finished mid July with over 100 hours invested in the summer. Contrary to my initial thought, this book has won multiple awards with TAJE, CSPA and.