HiLite adviser Jim Streisel's Cliff Notes definition:
Students understand the organization, economics and management of media staffs. They explore career paths and further educational opportunities in journalism.
Organization of Media Staffs
I am so fortunate and honored to be named the feature editor for the 2017-2018 HiLite team. Next year is truly when I will learn how to organize my section members; however, I was able to gain some experience currently before the next school year begins. I was given the opportunity to design some pages and see how the communication process works. When I designed both times, I felt like I had learned a lot already even though I'm technically not an editor yet. Furthermore, we were able to run the maestro for the May issue. It was a little rough, but Heidi and I learned some tricks and saw some trends already with this opportunity, and we hope to make Feature section better next year!
In addition, my co-editor, Heidi Peng, and I created a rough sketch of our "Feature Manual" for the incoming HiLite staff members. The reason why we created this is because we want to make the transition as smooth as possible for the content producers, and with a sense of solidarity in the feature section, we hope it will also make our lives easier for the first couple of issue cycles, so we can learn and grow together as a team. We have also created a calendar that will hopefully keep not only our new content producers but also ourselves and the entire section as a whole on track for the new school year. All of these materials can be found in Feature Section Tools.
I also went to the 2017 Summer BSU Workshops and will be attending the 2018 BSU Workshops as well!
In addition, my co-editor, Heidi Peng, and I created a rough sketch of our "Feature Manual" for the incoming HiLite staff members. The reason why we created this is because we want to make the transition as smooth as possible for the content producers, and with a sense of solidarity in the feature section, we hope it will also make our lives easier for the first couple of issue cycles, so we can learn and grow together as a team. We have also created a calendar that will hopefully keep not only our new content producers but also ourselves and the entire section as a whole on track for the new school year. All of these materials can be found in Feature Section Tools.
I also went to the 2017 Summer BSU Workshops and will be attending the 2018 BSU Workshops as well!
Feature Editor
Although I have been the editor since the beginning of the year, I did not know how to properly execute this role until the December issue with "Keep Mindfulness in Mind" when I found the right way to make sure all of the content on the spread is sufficient for First Page, so then I didn't have to do as much work during PDF week but also have a solid product in the end. This way was creating a dummy design for my content producers, so they know exactly how big everything should be and where the placement of every element should be, which required me to plan ahead and make sure everyone was on top of their game in creating things exactly how I wanted them to. As a result, everything worked out well, and the product was something that I am very proud of. Furthermore, it set up how I ran the section as a designer in the future with "Alone in the crowd?" spread.
This was one of my most successful spreads because the "Keep Mindfulness in Mind" helped me find a better way to manage a team, especially as these two spreads required two people for the story, photos, and graphics; because I kept checking in on them and making sure they knew what I wanted, they all finished their content in time!
Although I did not design this spread, I guided the designer Raphael Li in doing so, teaching him what I have learned throughout my career as a Feature Editor. He will be the Feature Editor for the 2018-2019 staff. I did not limit myself to only helping the new Feature designers; in fact, I helped all of the new designers in B4 including Riya Chinni, Anushka Dasgupta, and Tara Kandallu. Ultimately, helping them this year was essential in helping me receive the Tony Willis Excellence in Journalism award, and it is such an honor!