2020-21 Application Info

Everything you need to know about leadership application for next year.

Leadership Applications are due February 14

Interviews will take place during March. These will be with K/Z and the current editors.

Decisions will be announced at the beginning of April and formally announced at the banquet (TBD).

ANYONE applying for a journalism leadership position MUST work with their counselor to do everything they can to be in every one of their publication classes. We will not allow any leaders to be cross sectioned more than once. You are likely to lose your EIC/Managing Editor position if this is the case.

What are we looking for?

The last four years have been the best in Westside's recent history. This has coincided with working with the middle school program to get students into the journalism program as Freshmen. It has had a transformative effect on the program, and we hope to continue what we started four years ago.

That means the next group of leaders are going to take the NEXT step to help make our journalism program "One Team." We want leaders who are willing to think outside the box and find ways to work even more closely with other publications.

We want our future editors to keep pushing the program forward toward a more collaborative, integrated group that values innovation and teamwork.

At the heart of this philosophy is the idea that ALL staff members are contributors to Westside Wired. While we value the power of print, digital publishing continues to be the focus of journalism professionals and digital platforms will only become more popular in the future. Our job is to train you to be professional journalists, so we must do more to make sure everyone participates in opportunities that come from publishing content to Wired.

We would like future leaders to be able to think up solutions to answer the following questions as a leadership team:

How can we get ALL staff members to feel like they are part of Westside Wired? That would mean the freedom/responsibility to do more stories outside of their own publication. So WTV staff members could do reviews or profiles (or anything else), for instance. Or Lance and Shield staffers can create video content that would go alongside their story when it's posted on Wired.
How can we continue to push the boundaries of in-depths to be hallway-wide?
How can all publications be more integrated with and assist Apollo?
How can we make Microsoft Teams work to its fullest?
How can we make podcasting something that everyone can participate in? How can we grow our podcasting?
How can we grow our YouTube presence?
How can we grow our social media presence?
How can ALL students be involved in a "real" beat system that is truly in touch with the pulse of all facets of our school and community?
How can we continue our outreach to elementary students in the district AND help with WMS Press?

Look below for information - click on the "apply here" box to fill out the Google Form to apply.

EIC/Executive Producer of Lance/ WTV/ Apollo/ Wired/ Sports/ Shield

Responsibilities: - This student builds his/her own staff and they work toward deadlines to accomplish their goal. Responsible for ALL aspects of their publication, and while they do try to actively promote Westside Journalism as a "One Team" philosophy, their primary focus is on making sure their staff is doing high quality content within legal and ethical journalism norms.

They work VERY closely with the other Hallway Coordinator(s).

Would work with ALL editors to try to implement a Beat system that can work for the entire program.

Work with ALL editors to further develop a "One Team" philosophy.

Hallway Coordinator

Variable schedule - probably pick the publication that works best with your schedule.

Responsibilities: - This position may be multiple students. The HC would be our "First Amendment" champion and would read the "Guide to Journalism Law in High School" book and would be knowledgeable in high school press issues and what the SPLC can do the for the program.

Their "beat" is the Principal, administration, Superintendent, and School Board.

Would work with ALL editors to try to implement a Beat system that can work for the entire program.

Work with ALL editors to further develop a "One Team" philosophy.

Would continue our Elementary and Middle School outreach programs.

Would participate in MAIN content for the in-depth each month.

Would initiate feedback forums/questions/etc., to elicit feedback from students, staff and community about Westside Journalism.

Photo Coordinator

Would meet during Shield
Schedules ALL non-sports photography across the hallway using a master photography calendar or system. ALL academics/clubs/events should be photographed SOMEHOW - even if they have to get someone from another publication to use their phone!
Trains new photographers. This student needs to be great at knowing manual mode, shutter/aperture/ISO and also the various cameras that we have.
Makes sure all photos have captions and are using SmugMug correctly.
Works closely with Shield editors to make sure all specific needs of Shield are being met.

In Depth Coordinator

Would meet during Lance.

Would work closely with the Hallway Coordinator(s) to integrate monthly in-depths across all publications.

Would write main content for the In Depth sections every month.

In Depth content would be pre-scheduled to appear both in Lance and on Wired giving EQUAL weight to the publications and taking into consideration their unique mediums.

Student would work FULL TIME on in-depth content to manage schedules, deadlines, story assignments, etc., with the other editors and staff members involved.

Social Media Manager

Meets during Wired (or any class that works best on their schedule)

Works closely with other EICS to make sure content is assisting with all publications AND promoting the work of Westside Journalism.

Makes sure that all our social media platforms are maintained professional and follows our social media policy. Well versed in social media ethics for journalism.

Maintains all passwords and users for social media.

Understands and uses Google Analytics to provide insight into Social Media.

Makes sure there are specific posts for each platform that takes advantage fo the unique content for each one.

Grows the audience for each platform. Evaluates new platforms for our program.

Views and gets ideas for social media from professional journalism outlets and other high school programs.

This is their focus. This is their one thing in the hallway.

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