Leadership
Journalism has given me a multitude of opportunities to be a leader. I have learned valuable leadership skills that I will cherish for years to come.
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Mini Lessons
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Last summer, I attended MIPA's journalism summer camp and came home with so much valuable information on how to be a better writer. When the school year began, I knew I had to share what I learned with North Pointe, so we could all collectively be stronger writers. I created this mini lesson that I presented to the class, specifically focused on writing a captivating lead. Since I gave this lesson, I have read many stories from my peers with strong and creative leads. My junior year, I created an Adobe InDesign mini lesson for the incoming Page Editors. I covered the InDesign basics so they could familiarize themselves with the program and tasked them with creating their own page.
Leading as a Mentor
My first year in North Pointe, I had a mentor to guide me as I was learning the ins and outs of journalism. During my second year, I became the mentor and had the opportunity to guide a first-year journalism student. Establishing a positive relationship with my mentees is something that I have prioritized as a mentor. I want them to feel comfortable asking me questions or asking for help, as I remember being an intern scared to reach out to the juniors and seniors for help. I pass on the skills I have learned from my past mentor onto my mentees in an effort to better their personal journalistic work and so the knowledge I have acquired while in the program remains after I graduate. The photos on the left are during my mentees promotions from Intern to Staff Reporter, where I gave a speech detailing their hard work and journalistic accomplishments.
2022
2023
Issue Awards
On Distribution Day, each member of North Pointe gathers in a circle to thank those who have helped them during that particular issue cycle. During this time, I award exemplary students who went above and beyond that issue cycle. I give out lifesaver candy to three students who were a "life saver," and milky way candies to 3 students who were "out of this world." Those who helped with interviewing, editing, or had excellent stories or page designs receive these awards. Presenting these awards is something I look forward to on Distribution Day. Sharing my gratefulness and making members feel proud of themselves and others is the key to a successful North Pointe team.
Building a Strong Team
The key to a strong publication is a strong team, and I am beyond grateful that North Pointe has that team. I owe the success of our paper to the incredible people that I work with and the bonds we have formed throughout the years. Some ways I have encouraged a strong team dynamic is by creating icebreakers for our class. At the beginning of both my junior and senior year, I put together a team scavenger hunt where members could work together and problem-solve. This activity brought members together to bond in a casual and fun way before they began working together in a more demanding setting. To further encourage our team dynamic, I always aim to make all members feel welcome and included, and listen to everyone's ideas with open ears. Each and every member's ideas are important to me, and I want everyone to feel like they are part of our team.
Second Reads
Each North Pointe article must pass through a first read and a second read before it can be published. My sophomore and junior year I was a first-reader, but as Managing Editor, I now do second reads. When I edit these articles I pay close attention to detail, since after I sign off, it will be published. I stress the importance of being clear and concise in journalistic writing. When I am editing I often tend to cutdown "wordy" sentences and any unnecessary information. I often see repetitiveness with word choice, so I will recommend the writer to find synonyms. During a second read, I also look past the grammar, word choice, and structure, and will ask the writer to add creativity and flare in their story, especially in the lead. Without a compelling lead, many readers will flip right past the story. I will often leave examples of ways they can add a bit of creativity into their story.
North Pointe Now Posters
One of North Pointe's goals for this year was to spread the word about our website and increases its accessibility to readers. I created posters with a QR code to our website, and hung them up around our school. My hope is that students will scan the QR code, browse through our website, and return to read our online articles in the future. In this age of technology, a newspaper's online presence is just as important as print.
Page Editor Checklist
As well as doing first and second reads on stories, we also do "reads" on our pages in order to check on the Page Editor's progress. After publishing five issues this year, I began to notice common mistakes our Page Editors tend to overlook. Therefore, I created a first page read checklist for them to use as they begin designing their pages. Once they check off each box, I sign off on their first page read. Although indents, font size, and how centered the compass logo in the footer is may be a bit nit-picky, consistency throughout each page is very important to me. I hope that when I graduate, future Page Editors will still use the checklist I created.