EDITING, LEADERSHIP AND TEAM BUILDING
As a print editor-in-chief, leadership is an essential part of my journalism career. I became EIC in the middle of a global pandemic which naturally presented some unique challenges. Not only was I in an entirely new role, I was an in an unprecedented situation and we had to rebuild Verde virtually so that we could continue pursuing our goals of bringing issues in our community to light in an effective way. We held Zoom meetings with each other and with the staff, scheduled office hours to make ourselves easily available to the staff, built an unbelievable number of spreadsheets to stay organized and checked design on InDesign files or pdfs uploaded to Google Drive. On top of the new class format, we didn't have access to any of our resources that were stored on the school server. We had to rebuild the element board and figure out fonts and sizes through careful measurements with a dash of pure guesswork. More important than anything in this isolating time was constant communication. I sent countless pings and reminders to writers and section editors. I pride myself on being a team-player which means maintaining strong communication with my peers and being there to help when help is needed.
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
As EIC, I edit all the stories in our magazine helping with both text and design throughout the cycle. I work with stories from developing an angle to final pica checks. On the right are the magazines I've been a part of orchestrating as EIC (left: June 2020, right: October 2020). Click an image to see the full magazine on issuu. Note: We changed the Verde logo when starting Volume 22.
Example of editing process for Palo Alto High School reopening feature
This feature story of V22.2 dealt with the chaos of the district's reopening plan and the community's reaction to it. The story changed a lot as we approached the end of the cycle and the reopening plan was canceled so the editors worked closely with the writers to help them through the challenge. I helped them reorganize their story into a more logical structure with a better flow and which cut down on repetition.
Reorganizing for clearer structure
I helped them reorganize their story into a more logical structure with a better flow. They also needed help cutting so my new structure allowed them to consolidate repetitive parts and shorten the length while maintaining the core ideas.
The original outline was organized more by source rather than by content so in district dilemma and student outcry there was discussion of the problems with distance learning. Student outcry and organized response dealt with the same theme of frustrations so there was quite a bit of repetition across the sections. Elementary school update felt disconnected and out of place.
As you can see in the summary on the right, I tried to address these concerns by consolidating sections and rearranging content.
ORIGINAL OUTLINE:
1. Intro: short summary of what happened
2. Superintendent's statements: quotes from PAUSD superintendent
3. District dilemma: quotes from school board members
4. Student outcry: overview of students' frustrations
5. Organized response: petitions created by various parties and letters sent to school board
6. Elementary school update: discussion of in-person learning at elementary schools
REORGANIZED OUTLINE:
1. Intro: Hook and billboard
2. Moving forward virtually: superintendent and school board comments about going into second semester without reopening plan
3. Frustrations with returning: consolidated student, teacher and general community concerns as well as their response (e.g. letters, petitions)
4. Working toward reopening: board member and student perspectives on issues with distance learning and importance of in-person instruction. Addressed challenges of reopening by looking at elementary schools
ORIGINAL INTRO:
After months of debate surrounding the reopening, the state’s decision to move Santa Clara County into the purple tier has confirmed the closure of schools for the 2020-2021 school year.
Frustrations between the Palo Alto Unified School District and the community escalated through the creation of the plan and its subsequent cancellation. Parents, students, and teachers alike all voiced a variety of concerns with the plan.
INTRO AFTER EDITS:
“It just makes me sick to my stomach,” Superintendent Don Austin says from his 3-inch-wide rectangle on Zoom. He knows students have lost a lot.
No Prom.
No Spirit Week.
And not a single foot on the senior deck.
While students have tried to stay positive, hope for an end to our virtual confinement has slowly slipped away. Austin says he gets it, and he seems to have lost patience, too.
He is speaking to the Verde staff three weeks after the school board unanimously voted to pass a reopening plan that faced significant pushback from both teachers and students alike. Less than a week after the vote, Santa Clara County moved into the COVID-19 purple tier and the plan came crashing down, with students and staff left stranded looking out at yet another distanced semester.
Regardless of the now-defunct reopening plan, the process leading up to the board decision raised issues of transparency and emphasized the divide between the board and its constituents. When the time to reopen eventually arrives, can students and teachers rely on the board to get it right? We spoke to the superintendent, board members, students and teachers to figure out what went wrong and what comes next.
Creating a
captivating hook
The original introduction lacked a hook as the writers struggled to find a specific moment to focus in on. The other EICs and I met with them to discuss possibilities and work on it together. The result is shown on the left. We focused in on Superintendent Don Austin's visit to our class from earlier this week, creating a more emotional and engaging start that will hopefully convince readers to continue on through the text.
RUNNING CLASS AND THE PRODUCTION CYCLE
EDITING QUEUE
We set up a way for stories to sign up when they want edits. This way we could knew when they uploaded a new draft and we were able to get back to them quickly with comments.
After a class discussion we went through and assigned stories to writers
We set up a calendar outlining the cycle. We scheduled regular Zoom meetings to keep in touch with everyone.
CHECK SPREADSHEET
We tried to mimic aspects of our in class production process. We created a spreadsheet to give checks on as we approached the end of the cycle.
PRODUCTION CHECK INS
Distance learning can be easily isolating and we definitely missed the face to face conversations that would take place in class or during production. During production, we set up short check ins with each story over Zoom as soon as school got out to set goals for the day and then again in the evening to discuss how it went and any questions or concerns. After our V22.1 issue we wanted to get section editors more engaged with their stories so we had them run these check ins and the EICs sat in so we could offer any support and stay informed about the state of the stories. We also made ourselves over Zoom for regular office hours in which anyone could drop in with questions and we asked anyone who we needed to talk with to stop by.
As a leadership team, we are constantly looking to improve and by soliciting input from our staff we can identify the areas that need our attention. Our production feedback form gives us that insight on a variety of topics from communication to editing to workload.
As EIC, my main job is to support my staff's growth as journalists and as leaders themselves. I think the self reflection form is an important part of that. It helps people be intentional in their decisions and set long term goals as well as more short term goals of where they want to focus and improve.
REFLECTIONS
SUPPORTING THE STAFF THROUGH
2020 ELECTION ENDORSEMENTS
Because of Verde, I prepared for the 2020 election like I never had before. Hunkered down at my desk, I scrolled through candidates’ websites, jotting down notes as I went. I dug into local politics and state ballot measures, sifting out my stances and the issues most relevant to my community. With 10 City Council candidates and 6 school board candidates, this was easier said than done. So the other EICs and I compiled a briefing document for the staff so they could make informed decisions on our editorial stances and confidently engage in our politics-centered discussions. While there was still lots of information to process, we tried to streamline it and format it all in one place to make it more accessible for all. In the end we endorsed two City Council candidates, two school board candidates, a presidential ticket and several ballot measures. Click on the photo on the right to read the editorial.
BUILDING COMMUNITY
Community is a critical element of Verde. At the end of the day, we are a team and we are only able to accomplish all that we do because we work together and help one another. My role as an EIC isn't to be this authoritarian figure but rather to support my fellow Verdites in their endeavors and help them fulfill their potential. They need to feel comfortable coming to me for help or if something is bothering them.
While the virtual environment has made those bonding experiences more difficult, we try to recreate those fun filled moments to the best of our abilities. One way we've done that is through production dinners where we come together in the evening over Zoom to take a break from our work and play some virtual games.
Another way we work to create a positive environment is by writing thank you notes at the end of production. While we leave a lot of critiques throughout those final weeks, we end on a positive note by sharing appreciation and passing out complements. I also make sure I reach out to people and thank them when I notice the extra effort they're putting in.
TEAM BUILDING THROUGH SENIOR GIFTS
At the end of the 2019-2020 school year, I took on organizing senior gifts for our graduating Verdites. I asked the rest of the staff to drop off gifts in sets of 15 (1 for each of our seniors) on my front porch and then I assembled them into gift bags. I drew the Verde logo on little ceramic pots and planted succulents within as my contribution. Many people brought yummy baked goods and we ended up with nice little gifts for everyone. I drove around to all the seniors' houses and dropped them off. It was a nice way to recognize their hard work, especially given they missed out on so much.
NEWS EDITOR
As a news editor, I took charge and kept people on track despite being only a junior. Throughout the cycle, I helped field any questions that came up and worked to find practical solutions.
Part-way through the cycle, my co-news editor and I would lead the class in a discussion where we brainstormed ideas for our news section.
We then worked together to decide which were the best and assign writers to each story. In this image, you can see the document we assembled where we would write out a quick blurb describing the angle we wanted the writer to pursue and giving them any resources we had gathered.
We also stayed in touch through Basecamp to help keep writers on track.
We checked in with writers to make sure everything was going smoothly and to fix anything that was not. We took note of our discussions in our spreadsheet which we updated throughout the cycle.
EDITING
As a news editor, I was responsible for editing (with the assistance of my co-news editor Myra Xu) around 10 news stories per cycle. From helping writers hone in on angle to end of production copy edits, we worked hard to create a polished and interesting news section. Many writers struggle with the brevity and directness of news, so our edits helped guide them throughout the writing process. During production, we edited down stories like crazy, trying to weave together all the articles into a neat spread.
For our main story in the second issue, Myra and I worked to help the writers focus in on a specific element of a much larger conversation of traffic changes being considered throughout the city. In editing their first draft, I tried to help them restructure the story into a more logical structure and helped them transition into news story form. On the left are a few of the comments I made on their story.
Original lede (before edits):
Proposed changes by the Palo Alto City Council in response to Caltrain’s electrification are being considered.
Final lede (after edits):
The Palo Alto City Council is expected to decide on impending rail grade separations in May 2020, but many of the plans are receiving backlash from the community.