As a way to help our fellow student journalists, we created a Professional Learning Community (PLC) with student media programs in our area. This photo shows a critique night we hosted in C-2 in order to give yearbook staff members feedback on pages in progress and share best practices about our program. Some programs in our area struggle with design, recruitment, journalistic storytelling, yearbook sales and other skills, so we wanted to invite them to our space and help share with them some strategies and techniques that work for Whitney High Student Media. We gave feedback to Lykos staff members from Woodcreek High School and welcomed their feedback, too, as this is part of our growth mindset in addition to our service initiative.

Another way we chose to serve our peers was by sharing some photography skill-builder exercises and playing some icebreaker games together to show how we use these activities regularly in our program. We showed other student journalists how easy it is to have editors implement quick photo lessons -- and how impactful it can be. At the same time, we wanted to give them games and ideas they could use to help connecting with their staff members since this staff from an area high school mentioned getting mostly new staffers from one year to the next. Our goal was to help Woodcreek students leave with ideas they could try at school the very next day in order to make a difference in their program.

Obtaining a press pass and instructions from the athletic director just hours before game time, two editors-in-chief made the trip out of town to cover the men's basketball section semifinals at a pro sports arena. The game took place during a week-long school break, making it difficult for students to attend. Alyssa Folmer and Isabella Tomasini volunteered during their vacation to make sure school history was captured in photos, also posting to social media as a way to keep students informed. The last-minute nature of the game and access made for a stressful situation along with the pressure of photographing on an NBA court for the first time.