Editing, Leadership & Team Building
Editing, Leadership & Team Building
Embedded Files
What others say about me:
What others say about me:
This battered sticky note reads: "Thanks Lizzie for helping me with my interviews"
This slightly-less battered sticky note reads: "Thank you, Lizzie! For editing my story + letting me use your pencil to fill out my responsibility rubric countless times - ariya"
Gratitude jar notes
In my newspaper, we have a tradition at the end of every cycle to thank people whom we are grateful for and the reason why. I keep all of the notes I've received over the years.
You can choose to remain anonymous or not. If you're thanked, you can grab a silly goodie from our neon green goodie basket. Over the years, I've collected things from wacky plastic hands to blue-light glasses.
Here are two sample sticky notes that were given to me!
Editing
Editing
For me, editing was very, very daunting. I used to be that staff writer who grew to fear getting edits. Edits meant flaws, mistakes, and blunders on my end. But to me, it felt wrong for it to be viewed that way. So when I jumped from the newbie staff writer to editor-in-chief in just 5 months, I was stressing out. My editing skills? Essentially non-existent. Yes, for one month, I was the assistant online news editor. Yet, that role consisted of no editing. I was eternally grateful… but that also meant I felt a greater need to do my job properly. So I hunkered down on AP style rules and substance, not just grammar errors. Here’s a peek into my process.
When editing articles before they go into print, I try to re-check, offering other tiny but substantial critiques. This sample is an ideal edit on a pro-con page I did on high school phone policies! I'm working on moving from editing mainly for design to a mix of the content as well.
I remember staring down the AP Style Book, each page filled with rules and chunks of information that seemed impossible to remember. When I first started editing, it meant grammar only. This led to shallow-level initial edits. Yet, after asking around for feedback on how edited, I learned that editing as an editor means checking for substance just as much as grammar.
Now, as Editor-in-Chief, I have my editors edit articles for grammar – but always instill the idea to do so for the actual content. Does their argument make sense? Is the logical progression sound? Before we send our pages to the printer, I look over them once more to check for errors.
At what my newspaper calls “worknights,” the section editors and EICs come together and spend hours creating pages and designing spreads. Even if the article is completely “signed off,” or officially done, I comb through the lines of the articles yet again. Because even after copy, section, EIC, and advisers' edits … there’s always something we missed!
Worknights are undoubtedly nerve-wracking; racing deadlines always are. Yet, at the same time, I feel I bond with my fellow editors. I’m flying across the room, troubleshooting, designing, and giving feedback to people. In the midst of this chaos, I find an ironic peace. I am with a group of some of my favorite people doing what I love. I sincerely hope all future journalists at my newspaper will feel the same.
The TPT's Editing Cycle
In my time as Editor-in-Chief, I've edited 130 articles and gone through countless “cycles,” or newspaper issues. I know the patterns, like history, that repeat every year. The slow start to the school year, with the need for mentoring new staff. The break in rhythm that comes after Thanksgiving and Winter Break – and the AP Exams with finals at the end of the year. So, keeping different factors in mind, I decided, with my adviser and co-Editor-in-Chiefs, to take a unique yet considerate scheduling approach.
This is why we don't physically publish all of our cycles. Rather, we have a rotation from an all-online issue to a print issue. Out of our 8 cycles, 4 are online, and 4 are published as a paper. It goes from Cycle 1 online, Cycle 1 print, Cycle 2 print, Cycle 2 online, Cycle 3 print, Cycle 3 online, Cycle 4 print, and Cycle 4 online. This way, we take into consideration interruptions ahead of time, allowing for a less stressful and chaotic year.
Cycle 0/Cycle 1 online + taking feedback
Cycle 0/Cycle 1 online + taking feedback
One unique approach our newspaper takes is having an intentionally slightly slower-paced start to the school year. At the end of every school year, I review the anonymous feedback people in our class give (as you can see on the right here). One of the recurring things new staffers said was the lack of training they received before jumping into writing articles. As a result, Cycle 0 was created in my junior year.
Instead of jumping into writing full articles alone, it allowed new staffers to have more time to write about something not as intimidating: teacher features. Every year, our school has a group of new teachers who arrive at our school, so I decided to take advantage of that fact! It’s light-hearted and less stressful than a breaking news story. In my second year as Editor-in-Chief, I renamed Cycle 0 to Cycle 1 Online after transitioning from all-print cycles to a blend of online and print ones.
TPT Staff Recommendations - Google Docs.pdfEven during the school year, I check in with editors and ask what they're noticing is missing or could be improved. This may be a annoyums form (as seen on the left) or a direct text!
2025-26 Media Calendar.docxMedia Calendar/planning ahead
Before the school year starts, the executive board comes together to plan not just a month ahead – but the whole school year. The document you see on the left is our "Media Calendar" from this year, with the dates listed of when worknights are, when pages are due to the print, group activites and new cycle deadlines. It helps to plan things out like this, since while we're immersed in the bustling school year, we'll have structure.
Here's a sample of what our more detailed schedule can look like. We average ~10 days, with each day having an objective/focus.
The Board
Our newspaper has something called "The Board," where it tracks everyone's progress. When an article is finished with an editor's round of edits, it is "signed off" on this spreadsheet here with the initials of the editor in their signature color (mine is teal!).
We also mark if you've gotten graphics, or photos/infographics for your article. Yet, this isn't just a tracker; it's a way to force productivity.
At the beginning of every class, we pull up this document on the screen, and I call out people's names, asking for updates on their progress. It's truly not meant to shame people for being behind, but it also places a bit of pressure on the writer to get their work done since I mini-interrogate everyone in front of the class. I've found that without doing this in front of the whole class, people don't get as much work done since they can better hide it. This can be thought of as a friendly call-out!
Here's a sample of what our board can look like. Section editors skip copy editors since they should already be highly proficient in grammar and AP style to give less of a burden on our copy editors! I've found that people have a hate-love relationship with The Board; it's a tad more stressful, but people requested something like this to resolve our issue of deadline racing. Editors are not spared from the mini shame sometimes!!
How I edit + sample article
I edit very intentionally and consciously. As a freshman, all I remember are the red marks and piles of edits that pointed out my flaws. But to me, edits and leading people aren't supposed to feel intimidating; it's a learning process. You're supposed to bond together along the way, too.
Girls volleyball team redefines identity
Girls volleyball team redefines identity
By: Nethra Kumaravel
Published in The Purple Tide's Volume 50 Issue 1 (Cycle 1 print) and online
Although the text below is on the shorter side of articles my newspaper publishes, it went through four rounds of edits. From an article that leans too much towards highlighting a player who already graduated, it bloomed into one that truly showed the volleyball team's efforts to improve.
Context: I was Editor-in-Chief at the time, and this was a new staffer's first article of the year. I go editing articles of new writers with much more empathy; they're learning, and I can't hold the same high expectations I do for my fellow editors. Upon first read, the original copy struck me as one about the tragic loss of a teammate, one who had already graduated. The way it was written made the current team seem like they were in a rut and were entirely dependent on the departed player. As a varsity sports player myself, I knew that although teams lose great players every year, it didn't mean the new ones were helpless; rather, they rebuild.
Feedback recap
Rework lede. The lede is one of the most important parts of an article; it determines if the reader will continue reading or click off. The current lede was not bad, but it also had the potential to be more. "Colorful" ledes, or ledes that have you thrown into live action, are far more interesting, especially for sports articles. I also like to think of ledes as a "mini-thesis," or a clue to what the rest of the article is about. The current one was also misleading; this was about a team, not an individual.
Stay grounded on the angle. The article, originally for highlighting the whole volleyball team, leaned towards a Student Spotlight (a type of article), which posed an issue. I asked her to look at her planning sheet, a sheet that helps ground writers in their plan for how they were going to write their article. There, we both realized the article had gone off track. To fix this, we minimized the mention and emphasis of Mimi, the "star" player, as much as we could and introduced players who were truthfully making a great impact this season.
Think about how to use the given quotes best. When we looked at the transcript, the quotes did talk a lot about the star player, but they also talked about other players and the team! Oftentimes, quotes do the heavy-lifting in stories, so mindfully choosing which you use is crucial.
AP Style/grammar edits. Together, we walked through how attributions were given. The "said" comes after the name. Add the volleyball player's position, like "libero," if you can as well! Tiny things like this shouldn't be the #1 priority (content is), but it's still crucial. If done incorrectly, it can result in deterring a reader.
Junior Skyler Riley jumps to spike the ball on Oct. 9 during practice. Photo by Huda Noorzai.
In the cases where big parts of the article needed to be changed, it's hard for the writer to process all my different points and edits. Especially since Nethra was a new staffer and we were racing a very tight deadline, together, over a Google Meet call on the weekend, we spent a couple of hours reworking her article. It can be frustrating (I 100% understand) for an article to change so much, so I love to talk to my writers and encourage them through the process.
Original Copy
Original Copy
When mentioning CHS girls volleyball, the name of former player, Latmeen Mambu, also known as Mimi Mambu comes to the minds of students. With her graduation, the team is working to keep the same success without her.
Led by coach Daniel Molina, the Chargers enter this season with a mix of returning veterans and five new players. Mambu, a notable outside hitter, played last year as one of the team’s varsity captains on their run to the championship finals.
“It’s definitely hard because she was very composed, she was a good team leader and she always knew what to do at the right time,” said junior Gabriella Roper. “Now it's giving a chance for other players to be recognized and it's giving us a chance to not fully rely on one player and play as a team.”
After last year’s season, Mambu received an offer to play at Georgia Tech at the D1 level. As a newcomer, she was named the Atlantic Coast Conference(ACC) Freshman Player of the week of September 1.
“She was the heart of the team,” said Molina. “From my perspective, she was the most dominant outside hitter in the region, perhaps in all of Virgina."
With the loss of Mambu, the team is seeing significant contributions from players such as juniors Skyler Riley and Erin Green and senior Julia Horan. These players have stepped up to fill the void, making key plays and providing leadership to other players.
“I definitely think that Skyler has done really well in trying to fulfill that offensive spot that we lost,” said senior Sarah Kim. “I think that, in general, our whole team has been trying to work harder.”
As the season begins, the team’s performance has been impacted by the leave of several players due to injuries and illness. However, the team has been working harder to compensate and come back stronger this season.
“I believe that our resilience [comes from not having] Mimi anymore,” said Molina. “So we need to strive [with] what we have right now. This is a combination of players that I believe we can go all the way to state, but it will take more resilience, more vision [so] that we can get the job done.”
Published Copy
Published Copy
The gym lights are back on and the stands are filling up for the girl’s volleyball matches. With a new lineup, the team aims to reform their identity on the court.
Unlike last year’s veteran heavy team, this season’s team includes new players, leading to a shift in the team's dynamics towards building camaraderie and developing the skills of the players.
“Last year was my first year on varsity,” junior libero Gabriella Roper said. “I thought our captains were really good; they were always uplifting, had overall a lot of heart and compassion. This year we have a lot of newcomers, they’re still learning and we’re just trying to figure out how to play as a team.”
Last season, the team reached the Virginia High School League Class 6 state final, ending up as a runner-up after a 3-2 loss to Langley High School. With a record of 6-7 as of Oct. 14, coach Daniel Molina believes that the team can stay competitive, despite the challenge of adjusting to new players and positions.
“By all means, our program is a strong program, so our goal is to be in the finals of the district,” Molina said. “If we make it to regionals, we can go all the way to states, but it's one step at a time. For now, the mentality is to get to districts and then go to regionals.”
With the departure of players such as Lameen “Mimi” Mambu, a former varsity captain and outside hitter, the team is seeing contributions from players such as juniors Skyler Riley and Erin Green and senior Julia Horan. Riley is leading in both kills (111) and kills per set (3.8), Green is also strong on the offensive side, with a high number of kills (97), and Horan demonstrates a high hit percentage (0.217).
“I definitely think that Skyler has done really well in trying to fulfill that offensive spot that we lost,” senior setter Sarah Kim said. “In general, our whole team has been trying to work harder.”
With a record of 2-5 in the Concorde region, the team’s performance has been impacted by injuries and illness earlier this season. Chantilly’s regular season ended on Oct. 23 and postseason games began on Nov. 1.
“We have struggled a bit,” Molina said. “It will take more resilience, more vision [so] that we can get the job done. We’re getting there. We’re not there yet, but we’re working to establish the chemistry we want.”
Types of comments I leave
Types of comments I leave
We edit solely using Google Doc comments or verbal conversations. I am a big believer in leaving compliments here; criticism shouldn't be blunt and rude. There should be explanations for my edits as well. Comments with a singular "?" do not tell the writer enough about what to change. Additionally, getting edits from an editor is a pretty intimate process since you're presenting your work, which you spent hours on, and getting critiqued on it. I want to leave them feeling good, not feeling discouraged. I'm pretty passionate about doing this because I've been on the receiving end in a very negative way countless times, and that crushed my confidence when I first started. I don't want people to feel that way. So here's a peek at how I do that in Google Docs.
Leadership
Leadership
Leadership, to me, isn't being the loudest in the room. It's building relationships to guide people to reach a goal. It's noticing when people need help and doing something about it. I initially felt insecure as a leader – I'd question myself: Did I overdo it? What would other people think of me? Yet, as I grew more experienced, leadership felt less of a "me" centered concept. Rather, it was more about others.
Teaching lessons
As Editor-in-Chief, our class is student-run, which means we need to structure the class. While my awesome advisor helps with a lot of parts, the big responsibility of running the class is on me. This can mean a lot of things, like teaching staff.
Here's a sample of one of the presentations I made. How to email correctly is extremely underrated; this is essentially the first impression an interviewee has of you. If there's grammatically errors and missing details, they can feel disrespected; they won't want to take time out of their day to talk to you!
Guides
The self-evaluation checklist
When writing/editing for different sections, there are different things you need to look out for. That's why it's hard to create a single checklist, so I created one for every section for every possible scenario. This year, I required staff to put their section's self-evaluation checklist so they can check themselves before they send their articles to an editor. I was finding that some staff developed habits of not checking their work and sending it straight to an editor!
As you can see, many things in News do not apply to Opinions and vice versa. It's hard to remember all the little things, so I've found that this helps a lot of staffers give editors articles that are in much better shape because they have done this checklist.
Here are a few other examples of guidelines I made for more niche positions to clarify their roles. I find that without proper guidance or instruction, people struggle to complete their tasks. That's why I believe creating things like these are 100% crucial!
Social Media Marketers Guildlines for GraphicsGraphic EditorMarketing ManagerTeambuilding
Teambuilding
A newspaper staff can have strong writers and designers, but without a community that can and enjoys working together, it isn't truly something enjoyable. To me, my community in Room 228 is what keeps me going sometimes in the midst of deadlines. So that's why I strongly believe in the phrase “work hard, play hard.” Our staff works tirelessly... we deserve to be a little goofy and have fun! I even find myself looking forward to our more relaxed and funny days, from our mini award show to Fun Food Fridays. Here's a peek into how I help build a community of fun!
Recognition is key ✨
I still remember the compliments and kind words I’ve been given to this day; I think back to them fondly. When an editor in my sophomore year told me my articles were extremely well-researched, I tried even harder to research the best I could from then on. So, I want to do the same for others... I know how powerful recognizing people is. After all, at the end of the day, this is a class for helping people grow!
Every cycle, we have an awards slideshow recognizing people who did well in a couple of categories. As you can see, it’s stuffed with memes and LeBron GIFs (with the influence of one of my co-editor-in-chief’s passions for him). Laughter, smiles, and giggles always follow. Make sure to click through all slides – there are fun transitions and surprises on each!
Me during worknights
My co-editor-in-chiefs and I are designing!
The very niche feeling of leaving the school at 9 p.m.
Worknights: AKA when people consume ungodly amounts of chips...
This is really something you can have fun with! We created a slideshow where people can put things using Peter Parker (who also happens to be a journalist) as an example! This helps us get to know each other better at the beginning of the year, while also providing information on the website.
Here is mine! It lists out my hobbies and interests. Knowing others helps me strike up conversations better!
As you can see here, one of my co-editor-in-chiefs went all out in the humor department. 😊
National Conventions + VHSL trips
I've had my fair share of journalism field trips, including national conventions and VHSL state field trips. I've met the most amazing people there, and bonded with the staffers I've gone with as well. 100% reccomend!!
My co-editor-in-chief and I are on the way to the JEA Philadelphia Journalism Convention!!
A podcast presentation I saw at the Boston Journalism Convention!
Coming back from 2025 VHSL with 5+ awards!!!
2024 VHSL Championships!!
Recently, a couple of people on staff and I went to the 2025 VHSL. This is us enjoying some of the free pizza! I made a lot of fond memories there... including swiping as many free Oreos as I could.
Me, Delaney (former co-EIC), Mrs. Brown (my advisor), and Claire (current co-EIC) in Boston together exploring the streets!!
When we carried bottles of water back to the hotel in JEA Philadelphia...
Other events/pictures
Fun Food Fridays!! Here, I'm setting the food up. We have a rotation where different people bring the snacks each Friday.
After a rough worknight, I saw a poster that truly resembled my co-EIC...
My former co-editor-in-chief, Delaney Brooks, and I were at a parade where we sat in the back of a truck and threw candy at kids!
Media Award Nights!!
The churro-cinnamon balls we made when we were at Taste of Chantilly, a fundraising event!
Let's go TPT!!!
#onthebackofatruck!!
My former executive board!! + Beasley (the dog!) :)
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