EDITING, LEADERSHIP & TEAM BUILDING

One of the things I enjoyed most about working in our high school media program was collaborating with my peers. However, editing others’ writing and providing constructive criticism is tricky. Our program is like a family. As an anchor of our newscast, two of our responsibilities were editing copy produced by junior staffers and editing the actual newscast together. These screenshots represent two examples of how I served as a script editor with our junior staffers. In these examples, I'm working with them in editing copy for a show tease on iPhones being scratched by jeans and for a package on remnants of the Space Shuttle Challenger being discovered in the Atlantic Ocean. I've learned people need to hear both the strengths and weaknesses of their work at the same time and I try to follow that practice.

This video excerpt is the final edit of the Space Shuttle Challenger package after assisting junior staffers in searching for footage while editing for air on our season 3, episode 3 broadcast. Writing copy to meet our style guide of 22-28 seconds per story was the first difficult task in the process of building a package. However, finding visuals to sync with the copy and editing them together to creatively communicate with the audience was a greater task as deadlines loomed. Four years in our high school's program had prepared me well to assist others in searching for media which synced well with the words being communicated.

While work is important, few things are more important than spending time with staff socializing, eating and celebrating. Years ago I asked my dad, our adviser, if he ever celebrated Thanksgiving with his students. I suggested students have a potluck and he could bring the turkey. Every year since, my dad and I cooked the turkey together, students would bring in a favorite dish and we all gathered to celebrate together. Senior staffers now continue to organize holiday meals, breakfasts, gift exchanges, philanthropic work and opportunities to celebrate their success. As I said in my narrative while quoting American filmmaker Ava DuVernay, "If your dream only includes you, it's too small."