LEADERSHIP & TEAM BUILDING
The past four years have taught me that steering a newsroom is equal parts leadership, adaptability, and knowing when to listen. I've led The Stinger through a period of historic change, serving as editor-in-chief for the past two years — only the second editor in our paper's 100+ year history to do so.
I'm so grateful to have had the privilege of leading two incredibly talented 40+ person staffs, and learning from them just as much as (I hope) they’ve learned from me. I handled the first transition of our paper’s advisers in over 20 years, and worked to adapt the newsroom culture to new faces and changing times.
This year, in the National Scholastic Press Association's "Best of Show" Competition, I won...
5th PLACE NATIONALLY
...in Editorial Leadership. Read more about my leadership style and experience below.
Leadership Style
A couple months ago, I read an article in The Atlantic that really resonated with me. In “Lighthouse Parents Have More Confident Kids,” Russell Shaw argues that "lighthouse parenting" is a balanced parenting style that combines guidance and support with independence — and that it's the best way to raise your children. Coined by Dr. Kenneth Ginsburg, it emphasizes being a reliable presence in a child’s life — like a lighthouse guiding ships — while allowing them to navigate challenges on their own.
While I'm not a parental figure by any means and don't use this philosophy in that way, I've adapted the lighthouse approach to my situation and to guide my staff the best I can. I've especially tried to embody this philosophy much more consciously over my second year as editor-in-chief.
This mindset has served both myself and my staff well over the year as we've all learned to grow into our roles.
Four-year-old me at the easternmost lighthouse in the United States. At the time, I never knew how important journalism would end up being to me — but my love of lighthouses has persisted. Photo by Usman Shah.
I am not here to give my staff the answers or unilaterally make all decisions, but rather give them the tools and guidance to help our paper as a whole succeed. Oftentimes when asked for advice, I ask editors to come to terms with a decision (and their rationale) before providing an opinion — this ensures that I influence their initial decision minimally and that our staff benefits from strong diversity of opinion.
Personally, I love that this approach not only empowers them to trust their instincts but also strengthens our newsroom’s collaborative culture, as each person brings their unique perspective to the table without being overshadowed by mine.
Creating this environment of encouragement has benefitted my staff in that they feel more comfortable expressing their opinions and experimenting with new designs and techniques.
Just like the bonsai trees I take care of, I'm dedicating to help my staff grow, shaping them into the best writers, designers, photographers, editors, and artists they can be. Photo by Usman Shah.
Additionally, I encourage my staff — especially those in non-editorial positions — to respectfully challenge decisions they disagree with, ensuring that our content is well-curated using feedback from all perspectives. While still allowing for open discussion, my leadership style also establishes a clear hierarchy, allowing responsibilities to be delegated so as not to overburden one person: a cascade of editorial leadership, section editors, deputy editors, and writers enables the publication process to flow smoothly and ensure the highest quality of content.
When it comes to making decisions on the spot, I briefly confer with other editors at the moment — so as to consider all views — and make a deliberate choice on the matter.
Mentorship
Mentoring has been a huge part of my Stinger experience. Whether it was the support I got from former and current advisers or the hands-on experience with older editors, their advice and teaching has made me the editor I am today.
In turn, I've aimed to pass on that journalistic technique and love for the craft. For the past few years I've worked with underclassmen on stories, personally taught them layout, and taken them with me on high-profile reporting trips like covering Joe Biden's visit.
Providing guidance also means encouraging younger staff. I love working with new writers on their articles one-on-one, like former editors did for me. It encourages closeness and familiarity among staff.
In fact, I've had the honor of mentoring and guiding a nationally recognized, award-winning designer and personally teaching her how to use Adobe InDesign. She is among many younger editors, writers, and artists I've gotten to see grow over the course of their high school journalism careers.
During my two years as editor-in-chief, our staff and our paper won 7 national and 33 state awards (and counting), competing against some of the best papers in the nation. I also led The Stinger to our first "Gold" award from the Pennsylvania School Press Association in years. I celebrate each win as enthusiastically as my own because as corny as it may sound, journalism is a team sport.
One evening after a particularly grueling day of Production last April, I received this text from my Features Editor, Jessi Hahn, that instantly made me feel better. I felt thrilled she placed so high in the National Federation of Press Women High School Communications Contest for double-truck/spread design. She gave me permission to share this text as part of my portfolio.
Seeing my staff grow and succeed has honestly been just as rewarding — if not more — than any recognition I’ve received myself. Watching them develop confidence in their skills, take ownership of their work, and push our publication to new heights has reaffirmed why I love leading our paper.
Beyond my individual mentoring, I also worked with my journalism teacher, Ms. Ramirez, to start a formal mentoring system this year for all students.
Now, underclassmen have a senior on staff that they can bounce story ideas and angles off of, ask for help on interviews, and more.
The mentor also teaches writing, editing, design, and leadership skills to their mentee, allowing both partners to deepen their knowledge of the craft.
Teacher's Assistant
While choosing senior year courses last year, I faced a unique dilemma: I had run out of journalism classes to take (I skipped Journalism 2 and went straight to Journalism 3 sophomore year).
As I had seen in previous years and learned from personal experience, the paper was much easier to manage if I was in class with all my senior editors...but it seemed like that wasn't an option anymore (my petition to add a Journalism 5 course proved unsuccessful).
After many frantic meetings with my counselor, we found a workaround: through our school's new field study program, I could serve as an official "teacher's assistant" to Ms. Ramirez for her Journalism 2, 3, and 4 classes.
I jumped at the chance, excited to help teach even more than I did before.
I had already gotten a taste of this last year when our journalism teacher went on leave for a month during prime maestro season — the time when Journalism 3/Journalism 4 students work on their in-depth, investigative, months-long projects known as "maestros." Using what knowledge I had accumulated watching my previous journalism teacher, Ms. Reaman, I guided three groups through their projects as well as leading my own.
This is one of the presentations I put together for Journalism 2, 3, and 4 classes, helping to move my staff into the future with their coverage. At the same time, I've given detailed presentations and lessons on traditional print journalism too — mastering both is essential in today's world of journalism.
I led our staff through this difficult time with support from our other co-advisor and our journalism teacher from home. However, neither of them were physically able to be in the classroom with us, leaving me to help them report outside of their comfort zone. I worked with them to navigate pieces on challenging topics — including substance abuse and gender inequality — guiding them through sensitive interviews and ethical concerns.
Now, I prepare and give lessons on important journalism skills, including: copyright law, interviewing skills, page design. I also dedicate a significant amount in and out of class to giving individual feedback to 26 students on writing, design, editing, etc. During slower months when we're not producing an issue, I lead workshops on journalistic ethics and storytelling techniques, as well as running classes when Ms. Ramirez is absent.
While I don't love using worksheets to teach, they are helpful to use when following along on more complex topics. Otherwise, I like to have our class focus on collaboration, talking with their mentor groups or tablemates about projects they're working on and how they've overcome problems in the past.
This is one of the worksheets I created to help teach copyright law this past fall. I found through trial and error that keeping them short and sweet gets the best results.
In class, I also sometimes work more directly with Journalism 2 students while Ms. Ramirez helps maestro groups with their in-depth projects — or vice versa. Read more about what I've done with J2 below.
"On-the-Job"
One thing you should know about my leadership style is that I’m constantly innovating and trying new methods of doing things.
This February, I decided to try something unconventional: having our J2 students produce the February issue of our award-winning newspaper. This "on-the-job" program encourages learning by doing — the most effective way, in my opinion. Take a quick look at the issue below:
Did we take a risk by having first-year staffers put together a whole issue with nothing but light guidance from senior editors? Sure — some of these students had never touched InDesign, much less laid out an entire page. Is it also going to pay off long-term?
I'd like to think so.
As the largest class of senior editors in Stinger history prepares to leave, we realized we had to prepare our J2 students to step into these roles after we're gone.
I dedicated the past few months to running around our tiny newsroom, teaching InDesign, editing skills, and so much more to a small but dedicated band of J2 students. Despite the many challenges, it has been one of my most rewarding experiences as a TA.
Check out this video we made — the first in a series on navigating and troubleshooting Adobe InDesign.
Video by Rae Murphy.
A brief InDesign lesson I gave sophomore year to a couple new staffers who wanted to learn more — they are now some of my top editors. Photo by Gabe Meyers.
Real World Leadership
Stinger reporters capture the scene at Donald Trump’s Schnecksville rally, where supporters gathered in the thousands, waving signs and chanting in anticipation of the then-former president’s speech. Photos by Gabe Meyers.
After Joe Biden visited, we thought that was the last presidential coverage we’d have. Just a couple months later, we were proven wrong.
In April 2024, Donald Trump announced he’d be holding a rally in Schnecksville — just 20 minutes away from our school. Naturally, we knew we had to cover it.
While I couldn’t be there due to important prior commitments, I coordinated with my team throughout the whole process to ensure their safety and a smooth reporting trip. I spent hours with them and senior Morning Call reporters to figure out logistics, safety measures, timings, and more. I also arranged contacts with regional newspaper Morning Call reporters covering the event as well to ensure they had someone they could go to if need be.
Thankfully, they had a seamless experience, navigating the rally with confidence and gathering strong reporting despite the intense environment — one that was known for being hostile to reporters.
While I wasn’t on the ground, this experience reinforced my role as a leader—guiding from behind the scenes, ensuring my team had the resources and preparation they needed to report effectively on such a major event.
Advisor Transition & Newsroom Culture
One of the greatest challenges I've had over my tenure as editor-in-chief was handling the transition of advisers from Ms. Denise Reaman — The Stinger’s adviser and journalism teacher for more than 15 years — to two new teachers, Ms. Ramirez and Mr. Shaw. I could not be more grateful to all three of them for doing an amazing job at maintaining the same culture and comfort in the classroom, both during school and during Production during the transition.
The transition has been difficult nonetheless. One of my main goals through this transition process was to maintain our tight-knit staff culture. I wanted to ensure that despite the change in leadership, our newsroom remained a space where my staff felt supported and motivated. This meant taking an active role in bridging the gap — helping our new advisers understand our traditions, workflow, and values while also making sure the staff felt heard and reassured.
We've kept The Stinger a welcoming place for all staffers, just as it was my freshman year. At any point during the day, there will be at least a few staff members (and not just editors) in our newsroom, spending study halls, homeroom, and breaks up there.
I've also continued our paper's decade-old tradition of Secret Santa every December issue, organizing the event the past two years. This year, over 20 staff members participated — the most in years.
From my first production to my latest, we've kept Production week one of the best times of the month — despite the pressure, stress-eating, and inevitable late nights. It’s when our newsroom truly comes alive, filled with last-minute edits, caffeine-fueled debates, and the shared excitement of seeing our work come together. Top photo by Denise Reaman. Bottom photo by Shelby Ramirez.
Staff Recruitment
One of my responsibilities as EIC is ensuring The Stinger's legacy continues for years to come. Every time there's a club fair or other event, I'm there promoting The Stinger and encouraging people to join.
Since becoming EIC, I've also been involved with staff selections each year, interviewing over 50 applicants for staff positions and working with our advisers to create a team for next year.