Editing, Leadership and
Team Building
My leadership philosophy is centered around values of trust, courage, dedication and creativity. My goal as a leader in The Standard is to foster a staff where people feel genuine excitement and care for the work they are doing; where students can show up as themselves, and feel supported to pursue creatively, explore freely, and push themselves to grow, knowing they will be supported. The work we do as a publication is only as strong as the team that is creating it, and I have worked to build a team of honesty and authenticity through fostering connections with all members of staff, providing and receiving feedback, and making space for reflection and joy.
Editing
Editing for text
As editor-in-chief, I edit each piece published in our newspaper at least four times each: twice while on the document, and twice once it has been placed on a designed page. While editing, I search for any AP style or Standard-style specific errors, inconsistencies, ethical flags, story structure, voice, word choice and grammar.
Another key element to my editing is leaving positive comments with feedback and compliments to encourage my staff and express gratitude for their work and contributions. When editing, I try to leave a positive comment - whether a specific compiment or emoji reaction - for every comment containing constructive feedback. Whether interview-based pieces or opinions based pieces, I understand that writers are opening themselves up to risks and vulnerability in writing about something they care about, putting in hard work to create a finished product and recieving edits. Through leaving encouraging comments, I hope to foster a staff that creates confidently and feels supported to take risks and try new things.
Editing for print
I review each page published in our print cycle in several stages: during page planners, when editors sketch mock-ups of their pages for us to review and give initial feedback; during late night, when our editors are laying out their pages; during packets, our first round of edits on printed out versions of the pages; during my round of edits, after my deputy, Rina, has edited; and during final edits, when me and Rina finalize every page to send to press.
Packets
During page planners, Rina and I review every page individually and in order. We leave any comments with questions we have about secondary storytelling elements - for example, if we feel there is something that would complement the story but isn't present, such as data or a photo - and flag any possible challenges the designer may come across and should plan ahead for. We also put the page planners side by side according to page number so we can look at page-to-page cohesion across the paper, especially for spreads. In past critiques, it has been pointed out to us that our designs tend to be bottom heavy, and we tend to gravestone with our headlines, so we look at design plans at this preliminary stage so we can avoid these patterns early on.
Late night
During late night, I hardly get a second to sit down. My editors are constantly coming to me with questions, asking me for my opinion on certain design choices and for technical help with Adobe software. During late night, I ask all editors to give me updates every two hours to make sure progress is being made. During these check-ins, I take a look at any graphics, offer any advice if something has flagged my attention, and provide encouragement and compliments for their hard work.
Packets
Packets is our most intense round of edits. We print out all of the completed pages and each editor will grab a pen before spending an hour and a half reviewing every page in silence. Here is where we locate as many small mistakes as possible - odd spacing, confusing graphics, missing drop caps, cut-off text and absent source credits. This is the first time Rina and I are able to view the completed pages of the issue, and make sure to edit each one for these small mistakes and possibly larger design edits.
EIC edits
I love the visual element of design, and editing for design - being able to track where the eye goes, how tension and flow works across the page. When editing for design, I start with the visual elements themselves - is their connection to the story clear, and do they complement it? Are they placed well on the page in a way that is easy to navigate and clear? Is there hierarchy and a good use of space? Do they serve a clear purpose?
Next, I analyse any text involved in the graphics to ensure it is legible and stylistically/grammatically correct. Consistency and accuracy across all parts of the page, not just within the story, are crucial and defining.
Finally, I read the text and highlighted any text errors that might have been created while the editor was laying out or had been missed in the first rounds of text edits.
Samples of pages I have edited during packets
Our editorial board editing packets for our
most recent print issue, containing 48 pages.
Editing for online
Throughout my time as an editor, I have also contributed largely to editing for our online publication. As features editor: print, I frequently assisted my section partner with online stories and volunteered to edit timely news stories when needed. As editor-in-chief: print, I edit online stories, including videos and podcasts, such as my co-editor-in-chief's podcast, Politics Update.
Leadership
Reflection and feedback
At the heart of my leadership lies reflection. Through normalizing individual and collective reflection, our publication and its leaders can model the self-awareness needed when serving a community. Throughout my time as EIC, I have fostered regular group and personal reflection activities within the editorial board so we can always be working to self-improve, whether that be through celebrating strengths and sucesses or identifying areas for change.
Performance reviews
Once a semester, the managing team conducts performance reviews for each member of our editorial board. I meet with my deputy editor-in-chief to review the print editors performance and co-editor-in-chief to review the media editors performances. In these discussions, we evaluate their contributions to class and our staff, and grade them on a rubric with notes. During the performance review itself, I try to emphasize the individual’s strengths in order to balance out any constructive criticism or negative feedback. If there is an area where the editor has consistently not met expectations, I facilitate a dialogue on understanding the causes of the issue, clarifying expectations and looking for a solution. At the end of each performance review, I finish by asking "Is there any feedback you would like to give me?" and "Is there anything I can further do to support you this semester?"
An editor's performance review from last semester.
Progress checks
At the conclusion of every print cycle, our editorial board conducts a progress check, where we self-evaluate our team on several standards: Team dynamics, meeting deadlines, communication, content quality/variety, impact.
I facilitate dialogue for each of these standards, asking my editors follow-up questions, and encouraging them all to contribute to the conversation. This is a moment of group reflection, where we can confront areas for improvement - for example, if certain editors feel like communication hasn't been strong recently, or if many deadlines were missed in the past cycle, we can unpack these issues together and come up with solutions collectively.
Celebrating our successes
At the end of our first semester, I led a new reflection activity that was centered around celebrating the many achievements of our editorial board over the last three months. On a sticky note, I had editors write down one personal achievement they are proud of - for some, learning InDesign, for others, an investigative story they published - and one group achievement they are proud of - the creation of our new magazine, Ampersand, for example, or how we handled some legal issues at the start of the year. Then, I had everyone put these sticky notes in a bag, which we passed around, each reading one success out loud. What was especially meaningful about this activity for me was to listen to other people read out loud and celebrate their peer's sucesses.
In a publication that can often be very quick-paced and sometimes competitive, I found it crucial we take the time to pause and celebrate each other. At the end of this activity, once all the sucesses had been read aloud and acknowledged, I compiled them all onto a posterboard to make our sucess wall, which could serve to be a reminder of how far we had come in our first semester. Being in a student newspaper can involve so much critique - critique of work, feedback on editing or leadership or expectation-meeting. This activity was a wonderful break from that energy to embrace all that we have accomplished and should be proud of.
Goal setting
At the end of the 2024-25 school year, when our editorial board was first formed, at the beginning of semester 1, and the beginning of semester 2, I led group goal-setting activities with our editorial board. During this time, we all took time to silently reflect and write down one personal goal for the semester and one group goal for the semester. Once everyone had time to write and think, we went around in a circle and shared these goals one-on-one.
These goals are critical to making sure we are constantly thinking about how we can grow stronger as a publication and team. As a section editor last year, I set personal goals for myself that I wanted to achieve in my time as editor, such as trying a new design feature in every spread I laid out. These goals encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone and take risks, which ultimately led to me growing and becoming a stronger editor, leader, and member of a team.
During this activity, it was meaningful to hear what others wanted our board to aspire to, as it demonstrated how the editors are experiencing their time on their team and what their awareness of our strengths and areas of improvement are. It was also very important to me as a leader to hear what my editors' personal goals are so I could help support them in attaining them.
Beginning-of-year reflection and communication
At the end of the 2024-25 school year, in my first week as editor-in-chief, I initiated a bonding activity for the managing team focused on reflection. I realised that I would now be working very closely with a brand new team, and thought it would be a good idea for us to get to know each other and our working styles. Each of us, on a piece of paper, wrote down their top five strengths as a leader, their top five areas of weakness as a leader, their priorities as a leader, and their values as a person, taken from the Brene Brown Dare to Lead values list. I gave each question about five minutes to answer before we shared as a group, and it led to some really important discussions on how we can support each other this upcoming year.
Managing print
As editor-in-chief: print, much of my leadership is around producing our 5 regular print issues and 2 special editions. This requires time management, fast-paced problem-solving and clear communication.
Changing the print cycle
Last year, we were consistently having an issue where a designer would spend hours on a page, only to have there be a flaw in the design revealed once it was completed, forcing them to reverse all of their hard work. We were also having issues with consistency among our paper, where pages weren't flowing together, we often had tombstone headlines, and many of our pages were similarly designed to be bottom-heavy, making the paper feel repetitive.
In order to avoid this issue, I adjusted our print cycle to have editors complete page planners earlier in the process. Once assigned their pages, editors would be asked to complete a page planner where they would describe their design concept and sketch a draft. All of these planners would be submitted to me and my deputy, Rina, and we would look over them and leave preliminary edits with any concerns or ideas we have.
Another goal of ours was to make the design process more collaborative. This new page planner system worked to accomplish that, as we had the page planning process be highly collaborative and based on a collective creative effort where the editors could ask one another for ideas and provide feedback and encouragement. These classes are my favorite, as everyone comes together around our circular orange table and starts talking about all their ideas. For this class, while I will contribute ideas if I have a vision for a spread, I like to take a more hands-off approach to allow the designers to explore freely.
The page planner template me and Rina designed at the start of the year.
Completed page planners with my and Rina's comments.
Deadlines and announcements
Amongst my responsibilities as editor-in-chief are managing the many moving parts of the print cycles, involving opening story ideas and announcing each issue; deadlines at every stage; our front/center pitches zoom where we vote what stories will be featured on the front of our issue and centerspread; organizing our Late Night, our staff-wide bonding night where editors lay out pages; and staff edits, where all members of our staff are invited to make any last minute edits on pages before we send to press.
A staff-wide email I sent out announcing staff edits.
A text I sent out while organizing our front/center pitches zoom.
A text I sent out reminding editors of deadlines.
A staff-wide email I sent out announcing Ampersand, and the opening of the pitching process.
A staff-wide email I sent out announcing our new magazine, Ampersand.
Informative texts I sent to our editorial board group chat with detailed instructions and reminders.
Summer redesign
Over the summer, Rina and I redesigned the masterpages of our newspaper, choosing new fonts, changing the masthead, and creating new templates for our 2025-26 print issues. A large part of this process was finding inspiration on resources such as pinterest, looking to develop a style that aligned with our vision for the paper.
I initially found this task overwhelming - ask a section editor, I had never been given this level of freedom and autonomy over the paper as a whole. This redesign was the first time I experienced my judgement being the primary call on what passed and what didn't - an important lesson to precede the upcoming year, where people would often come to me asking for advice or a judgement, and I would have to learn to follow my gut and trust my experiences to make a decision I felt was right.
The many variations of masterpages Rina and I created when experimenting with our new masterpages.
The redesign checklist Rina and I made to stay organized and ensure everything was covered.
A document where we kept track of changes we made along the way.
A document where we kept track of changes we made along the way.
Logo colors we experimented with.
A variety of fonts we explored.
Pull quotes: Before vs after
Folios: Before vs after
Bylines: Before vs after
Boosting morale
I have made a special effort this year to send out celebratory emails to our editorial board whenever we have an accomplishment. Whether big, like winning an NSPA Best of Show award, or smaller, like sending an issue to press, these are occasions where I demonstrate my gratitude for my team and recognize our hard work. Taking a second to pause and celebrate can help remind our editors of the importance of our dedication and brings positivity and small moments of joy to our staff.
Teaching and support
One of my favourite aspects of being an editor is teaching others. I love to help others one-on-one - seeing that "aha" moment where the Indesign tool finally clicks, or where the LTQT format finally makes sense. As editor-in-chief and a section editor, I have always been intentional in carving out time to meet with writers one-on-one and prioritizing educating over simply correcting. I deeply value empowering and equipping the next generation of leaders with the skills they need to thrive and produce work they are proud of.
A quote from Amy, a sophomore reporter.
Features everything guide
While serving as features editor: print, I created a Features Everything Guide to walk new reporters through the features writing process. This guide includes how to find and plan a story and how to write in LTQT style. This document served as a teaching tool I could give any beginning reporters if they couldn't meet in person, and served as a thorough guide to constructing an interview-based story for writers who were unfamiliar with our style.
Mini lessons
As editor-in-chief, I am responsible for planning class with my co-editor-in-chief. Often, we will spend time organizing and presenting mini lessons for our editorial board.
Some mini lessons I've presented include a lesson on feedback from our print critique, how to use Adobe software such as InDesign, and common editing mistakes. While working on creating Ampersand, I lead our editorial board through multiple lessons on designing for magazine and gathering inspiration for the magazine.
Team Building
Team bonding
Without a strong team, our publication cannot produce strong work. Reporting, writing, designing, creating - all require confidence, risk-taking, and vulnerability, actions that are reliant on a positive and supportive team environment. The heart of The Standard is its staff, and as editor-in-chief, establishing personal and warm connections has been integral to collaborating with such a large team.
Late Night
For each print issue, we have a staff-wide late night where all members of our publication are invited to our classroom from the hours of 3-8 PM on a Friday, while the editors are laying out their pages. This is a special time for our staff to come together, one where inside jokes and memories are created alongside the pages of our newspaper.
As editor-in-chief, I have worked to make Late Night not only a time of productivity but also a time of connection. At the start of this year, I created a Late Night playlist, and at each late night, I hand my phone around to have each member of our staff add a song. In the end, it's turned into a comprehensive compilation of all our favourite music, which we listen to into the night. I send out staff-wide emails informing our publication of Late Night to foster inclusivity, and be sure to reach out to any new staff members who may be interested in stopping by to meet the team.
Additionally, we often have food at Late Night, which gives everyone a reason to come together and enjoy each other's company.
Our Late Night playlist, featuring songs added by the entire staff.
Some editors eating pizza at our last Late Night.
Staff bonding lunches
Every few months, we organize staff-wide bonding lunches. These are rare moments where our entire staff of 50+ people, across four classes, comes together for some friendly competition. For our last bonding lunch, we had a competition to see which team could build the highest tower with spaghetti and balance a marshmallow on top.
During these lunches, I enjoy engaging in these competitions and allowing my staff to see the more fun and spirited side of me, instead of always the work-focused editor-in-chief I can be in the middle of the print cycle. I love collaborating with especially with our younger members of staff, who I often don't get to interact with in more informal settings. These lunches unite us and create core memories across our staff - I still remember the staff bonding lunches from my time as a freshman on staff.
Our staff collaborates in small teams to build spaghetti towers in our last staff lunch, Dec 4.
Editorial Board picnic
At the end of the 2024-25 school year, I organized and hosted an editorial board picnic (ultimately hosted inside, due to the rainy London weather). This was the first time our editorial board had spent time together outside of school. We all brought snacks, talked, and did some reflecting on how our first week as an editorial board was going. This bonding experience was ultimately foundational to how our board came togehter for the rest of the year, with our editors always being active and enthusiastic in conversation, and authentic in how they bring themselves to the classroom.
Our editorial board indoor bonding picnic.
Thanksgiving notes
Around the time of Thanksgiving, I led a Thanksgiving gratitude activity, where each member of the editorial board wrote little notes of appreciation for other members of the board. This was such a lovely moment of board-wide appreciation, where we were able to express thanks and acknowledge how we are inspired by each other. I found it very grounding to be able to put my gratitude for the individual members of my team into words and hand deliver them, and found this activity brought a lot of positive energy to our team mid-semester.
Some notes I wrote my editors expressing thanks!
Notes I recieved from my team.