Leadership & Team Building
My approach to leadership
“I want you to argue with me.”
During the article selection process, one of my first year staff writers wanted to challenge herself. Jaden, who had only previously written a one pager about school clubs, chose a story titled “Climate Clock.”
The complications started when the editors decided to cut Climate Clock from two pages down to one. When we made the announcement, I could see Jaden wasn’t happy. A good leader doesn’t leave their staff member in that spot so I approached her and said, “I want you to argue with me.” First, she was taken aback. She later told me she was thinking, “Is this a trap?” I clarified that I didn’t want to actually fight it out, but I wanted to understand her thinking and that I would support her if she had a good reason.
The next day in class, Jaden walked up to me with a big smile and said, “I want to argue with you.” My response: “Absolutely.” She explained her story was about more than the climate clock. It was about how natural disasters on the other side of the world were connected to our small town and what the community can do about it. In the end, we agreed the story needed two pages. “Climate Countdown” ended up being the best story in that edition.
Leadership isn’t just making the final call. Sometimes, it means inviting someone to push back. Saying “let’s argue” created space for Jaden to feel heard, respected and supported. The best leaders don’t just guide their teams. They listen, challenge and make room for others to rise.
Junior editor-in-chief and a new team
Wingspan has always been led by a sole senior Editor-in-Chief. But during my sophomore year, it was announced I would be Wingspan’s first junior Editor-in-Chief. On top of that, our incoming team would be two thirds new staff members. I took that opportunity to set new precedents and constantly tried new ideas.
How we plan an edition
Wingspan white board during the development of planning the spring 2026 issue.
The first two days of every issue are my favourite. Our team sits in the back of the room with our white board and we plan the entire edition: news, sports, features, opinions.
Everybody’s first “back board day” is scary. What if my idea sucks? What if I don’t get the story I want? Because my first issue as Editor-in-Chief came with primarily new staff, I knew I’d need to pull ideas out of people. So I sent everyone a survey asking for at least three topics, two days before. Then that first "back board day" I came to class early and wrote all the topics on the board. When class started we reviewed the topics, found overlaps and discussed what our team thought was important, including stories on mental health, politics and interactive games.
Now our “back board days” are filled with inside jokes, deep conversations about the state of the world and productive planning.
Planning steps
Step 1: Come up with story ideas individually
Step 2: Everyone throws out topics and I write them on the back board
Step 3: We pick the most relevant and news worthy topics
Step 4: Divide up stories to staff writers and figure out page count
Step 5: Editors decide deadlines (story deadlines, copy editing deadlines, design deadlines, and photo deadlines)
Step 6: Order the pages in the magazine and divide them among designers
Step 7: Assign copy editors
Step 8: Pick visual elements on each page (photos, illustrations, glance boxes, sidebars)
Step 9: Watch the magazine come together!
Staff bios
Team improvements
When I joined Wingspan, the team had stopped using staff bios. But as a consumer of news, I like and trust news more when I know who the reporter is. So as editor-in-chief, I took a team vote and implemented them again. We spent a day writing them and taking headshots.
Press passes
After Senate Bill 68 passed in Missouri banning phone usage in classrooms, we faced a problem: What if we don’t have time to get a camera during a moment of news? To solve this concern, I made press passes. Not only do our press passes get us into sporting events and performances, we’re also allowed to use our phones to take pictures during the school day. My initiative prevented a bigger problem.
Creating specialized teams
Our team changes every year. Last year we wanted to boost our website activity but only had 14 members. Rather than give up, we created specialized teams to divide work more efficiently.
The first team was a photo team who takes photos for reporters who struggle with photography. It worked well last year but this year we re-adjusted again. Now the photo team focuses on photo editing and is helping reporters improve their own photography.
The second team was a website team. In 2023, Wingspan was criticized for not regularly updating our website so we added a new Website Editor position. Their job is to create timelines for website stories and manage the work. This position has led to more short-notice stories, photogalleries and multimedia projects with broadcast.
Teaching
In Wingspan, editors will sometimes give lessons on writing, photos or design. However, all staff members have already finished the introduction journalism class. So, most of our slideshows are review. I'll sometimes do hands on lessons such as making a journalism resume, but those don't come with slideshows.
Middle School Lesson
This year, our middle school invited Wingspan members to present to their journalism class. This presentation was the scariest because I didn’t know what to expect from the middle schoolers. I went in with a few talking points, but mainly visual content, including magazines for everyone. The students asked a ton of questions about design, planning an issue, and personal experiences about stories, including a recent Halloween article with interviews of scare actors.
Elementary school lesson
After Wingspan won some significant awards, my elementary school librarian reached out asking me to present to 70 fifth graders. They were doing a project about the 90s’ where they had to interview teachers and faculty. I decided to do an interactive interview lesson. I pulled a volunteer and interviewed them in front of everyone. Then, they broke into groups to do the same. At the end, everyone shared something they learned about the person they interviewed.
Wingspan lesson
This presentation was for the first week of Wingspan last year. Coming back from summer break the team and new staff tend to forget some of the basics. So, I took time to introduce jargon and processes to everyone. It’s important to get everyone adjusted at the beginning of the year.
Staff bonding
Fun Fridays
When a staff writer started pacing the classroom every Friday at 1 p.m., I knew we needed time away from our computers. We began our weekly tradition of “Fun Fridays.” On sunny days we go on walks, and on rainy days we either have a play-doh making contest or do Just Dance.
I love the activities, but the bigger priority is team-bonding. Our team has built genuine friendships on top of our work-relationships. This has benefitted us during deadline weeks when everyone communicates openly and jumps in to help each other.
2026 Wingspan team compete in a sea animal themed play-doh making contest during a Fun Friday.
Holiday parties
Wingspan loves to party. Our parties consist of snacks, holiday themed activities and reflection.
Running a quarterly publication means our work is a season ahead. We work on the fall issue in summer, the winter issue in fall, and so on. So after we finish an edition of the magazine, we spend one day celebrating the actual season.
We’ve done secret santas, white elephants, valentines day box competitions and more. But alongside our activities, we spend time reflecting on what went well and what needs improvement for the next edition.
Combining fun and a little bit of criticism keeps morale high.
Wingspan copy editors try to do a three-way handshake after agreeing to a year-long competition on who can win the most journalism awards, during the fall 2025 party.