As an elective course at a small school, we cannot pick and choose who joins The Gator. Instead, it is the job of the editors to pass on the crucial information needed to continue our standing as one of the nation's best scholastic news websites. Oftentimes newer writers need strong guidance to adjust to a journalistic writing style. This requires continuous involvement during the editing process, and writers often go through 3+ drafts before publishing. Every final draft must be approved by at least two editors. 

Although this process requires new journalists to jump right in to writing (after 1.5 weeks of lessons on basics with editors taking turns teaching), I've seen firsthand that the most learning is done on the job. 

In order to keep track of everything coming through the pipeline, we have one big spreadsheet that includes every writer's current work. It includes what the article is about, who is editing it, and category information. If a journalist's block is empty, we know it's time to assign a new article. 

In the 2024-2025 schoolyear, I pioneered our website's first ever live sports broadcasting initiative. Eager to share our process with other journalists, I proposed that my co-commentator (Jackson Tarbox '26) and I host a session at the NEPSTA conference at BU. After our session got approved, I prepared a presentation and practiced with Jackson.

When the we entered our room, I couldn't believe my eyes. At least 50 journalists and advisers had packed the session, with some standing because all the seats had been filled. The presentation went great, and we hung behind for over 20 minutes talking to individuals who had questions or compliments for us. It was amazing to hear people say that they were going to try to do the same thing at their schools, or apply some of our methods to their streams.