LEADERSHIP & TEAM BUILDING
My proudest accomplishment as an editor-in-chief and as a person was an ongoing experience for 12 weeks this year. Our adviser, Mrs. Jayna Rumble, went out on maternity leave the second day of school, sending many of the editors, including myself at first, into a panic. However, as one of the leaders of the team, I pushed through hardships and broke barriers, realizing that we were still more than capable of making the book the best we could. I helped more than a few staff members, staffers and editors alike, with their hardships the best I could in dealing with the lack of a sound adviser, because after just a couple weeks of having our temporary adviser, Ms. Nichole Forand, she was hired elsewhere for the rest of the year and we only saw her for deadline nights. Our third teacher in just a few short weeks had no yearbook background, so the staff relied on Emily and I for any and all questions they had, yearbook related or not. I worked mostly on teaching the big group lessons about copy, captions, spacing, etc. and I focused even more on the well-being of my staff.
TEAM BONDING
I have participated in many of our group bonding activities, including the MIPA summer workshops for 2016 and 2017, Halloween costume day three years in a row, and our annual selfie challenge and bake off. The bottom right picture shows this year's selfie challenge rubric, describing how it promotes team bonding between groups, creativity, and for the older, licensed editors to take responsibility in getting the group together. Yearbook wouldn't be the same without such a warm, welcoming friend base.
THE NEXT LEVEL
I was offered the unique opportunity by members of troy's student government to attend a near week-long leadership camp over the summer entering senior year. Though not a part of stugo, I took it upon myself to go to the camp and learn all I could about being a leader. I learned skills to lead a large team, I learned when I needed to step back and when I needed to step in, but most of all I learned more about myself and how to work more harmoniously with others. I did this for the sole purpose of becoming a better leader, as I knew my staff deserved.
Upon entering class on my first day of yearbook as a staffer, I had already set a high standard for myself by hosting the entire editorial board (of strangers) at my home over the summer, so I had become quite comfortable with them by the beginning. That being said, I was a member of the concert orchestra at my school and was attending String Camp the first weekend of school. Being such an under-covered event, I happily volunteered to take a camera and stepped up to the plate, capturing my first photos of the year all by myself and raising the bar for myself for the future. It was in stepping out of my comfort zone in this way that made me love being a leader in yearbook and made me excited to help in any way I could moving forward.