Last summer, I attended the Columbia Scholastic Press Association's Editorial Workshop. Through this experience I learned how to effectively train my staff to become great storytellers. I analyzed other students pieces of writing and learned how to edit from some of the greatest in the industry.

At the beginning of this year, I gave a presentation to the class about how to write in AP Style. There are a plethora of differences between AP Style and the typical writing one might do in an English class, so it's important to emphasize what those differences are and what common mistakes may be. I've taught my staff how particularly in news and feature writing it's essential to be as objective as possible and to not editorialize.

One common mistake some of my writers make is by editorializing their quotes. Rather that copying the quote and writing "someone said," they'll write "someone exclaimed" or "someone yelled." I fix this mistake any time that I see it and make sure to communicate to the writer how it changes the meaning of the quote. News literacy is more important than ever and I make sure that I along with my staff always do our best to uphold it.