top of page
Leadership
1. Leadership presentations
2. Leadership seminars
3. Editor's journal
4. GSPA session
5. Notes on leadership
6. Conflict resolution
7. J1 interviews
8. Outreach synthesis
9. Community outreach
Table of contents
I pride myself on my leadership. I set a tone in the room through my can-do attitude and productivity when it's time to work. As I have progressed through my program, I have seen myself growing as a leader so that I can lead my peers in a firm but loving way.
In my final year in the ODYSSEY, I won Fifth Place in Editorial Leadership at the National Scholastic Press Association at the 2025 Fall conference. This is a testament to my dedication to powerful leadership.
Presenting on leadership pt1
Left: Here is a PDF of a presentation I did with fellow editor Janie Ripps. I got this information from a conference I attended at the National Scholastic Press Association in 2023. Janie and I then updated it and perfected it to fit our staff better. This shows my leadership through both the creation of this presentation and presenting it to our class, and answering their questions. I liked presenting to my class, and my next goal is to present at an actual conference for those attendees.
Presenting on leadership pt2
Left: Here is an image and a button that is linked to a presentation I made this year with DEIC Lea D'Angelo. We presented it at the Georgia Scholastic Press Association fall convention and the National Scholastic Press Association fall convention in 2025. This presentation was focused on how I, as the leader of a convergent publication, keep everything productive and flowing. As the Managing Editor, I spend a lot of time leading the room; however, I can. This presentation should represent how I lead and why I take good leadership so seriously.
Right: In this PDF is a document that has an agenda and some constructed response prompts for a Leadership Seminar I attended recently. These seminars are a time for the ODYSSEY and iliad Editorial Boards to work together and reflect as leaders. I have learned a lot about being a leader from these seminars, which have helped me in my position. A couple of things I have learned are how to work with our advisor, how to conference, and how I want to lead. These lessons have been great to implement into my day-to-day life and have impacted me greatly.
Leadership seminars
Editors' journal examples
Left: Here are two examples of Editor's Journal I have written in my time in the ODYSSEY. In these journals, I write about myself and my staff from the last month to reflect on our progress and improvements. These are great ways to just sit down and analyze the last month, so I can learn from it. One way I have grown as a leader from these journals was through the inspection of my own work as a leader. These journals have helped me vent, ask for help, celebrate success, and let me put into words what I want to change about my leadership techniques.
GSPA Editor's roundtable
Right: Here is an image that shows one of the slips we used to start a discussion during the Editor's Roundtable I led alongside fellow ambassadors. This session was meant to be a safe space so that editors could express their issues and successes, and we would discuss them. This session was really beneficial and helped fellow editors get some things off their chest, with the ambassadors and me providing solutions. Although the editors present just wanted to complain, I made sure that all conversations were working towards a productive resolution. I think that conflict resolution is a strength of mine, which I made sure to utilize in this session.
Notes on leadership pt1
Right: Here is a PDF of a document that has notes I took on two different sessions on leadership at the 2024 fall National Scholastic Press Conference. The first session was my pre-con on editorial leadership, and that workshop inspired me to approach my staff leadership in a new way. The second session was with Aaron Manfull, whom I know through his Media Now emails, and I learned more ways to organize my work. As a freshman, I was very awkward and unconfident in my leadership; now, as a junior, I feel stronger. Some more tangible things I learned on leadership are posting calendars, radical candor, and a keep-stop-change approach to improving a publication.
Notes on leadership pt2
Left: Here is a PDF of a document that has notes I took on three different leadership and staff management sessions from the fall National Scholastic Press Association convention in 2025. Before this conference, my teacher, Mr. David Ragsdale, had asked me to go to extra leadership sessions so I could bring home solutions that would help us with the issues we had faced. These sessions really helped me come up with good ideas that I could use to improve productivity, accountability, and staff morale. One tangible thing I learned was to mandate printouts of story progress for every deadline in designated folders. Another way to have a designated fun time every month so that no matter how stressful things get, we still have good energy and morale. As much leadership experience as I have gotten from my time in the ODYSSEY, I am always looking to learn and expand my skillset.
Hallway chat log
Left: Here is a PDF of a document that I used to document all of the hallway chats I had during cycle 1. For clarification, in ODYSSEY, a hallway chat is a conversation I have when a staffer either has a conflict or is not in compliance with the rules. At the beginning of the year, I didn't log them, and it put a lot of emotional weight on me. Mr. Ragsdale encouraged me to write them out so I could get them off my chest, and we could discuss them more. This document has become my lifeblood and really helped me be a productive problem solver in helping my staff. Conflict resolution is difficult to manage, but this log has really helped me evlaute myself and my staff.
Interview J1 kids
Above: Here is a screenshot of the interview schedule I made and followed last year when I was in charge of interviewing all of the new J1 kids. This is a job I helped with in my sophomore year but took over in my junior year. I read all written applications, moved those who made it to the interview stage, and made final decisions from there. Even though I am not a J1 Facilitator, I still take this job very seriously because I want our outreach to be delivered on and earn us a strong new class of production prospects. Looking ahead to this spring, I will likely be leading the charge for the interviews as well although I will be bringing on a sophomore or junior that I can train to take over for me.
Outreach synthesis
Left: Here is a PDF of the portion of my Editor's Synthesis from last year that focused on outreach. It may seem silly that I am spending this much time discussing outreach, but I really do feel my aptitude for outreach is a skill I use in all aspects of my journalism. This PDF shows a full list of all the outreach I did in my junior year, with descriptions of what it was like and what materials I brought. As a senior, I have been trying to pass my job on to the next outreach guru, although I still have taken over when needed throughout the year. Recently, I had to use my networking from last year to mend a slight miscommunication between one of our feeder middle schools, so outreach could go well. Overall, I want to make sure that my skills are passed down and trained, which I have worked a lot on this year.
Adapted handball with the community
Left: Last year, a group of ODYSSEY and iliad members were invited to play/practice with a local team of adapted handball players. We had a great time helping connect ourselves to the large Athens community. This partnership included students from schools all over the district and University of Georgia students, which forms a large demographic of Athens. Overall, this was a good experience of pushing my leadership past the classroom and out into the real world.
2025
2024
2023
Trunk or treat
Left: Over the last three years, I have participated in our staff's attendance at my school's trunk or treat community events, with me leading the last two. In terms of duties, I started by coordinating a theme for the staff (my personal favorite was Beetlejuice in 2024). From there, I created a team of staff members who would be willing to participate and started the candy-gathering process. After setting everything up, I got to just enjoy myself and meet community members as they brought their younger kids/siblings around. I met a lot of teachers and administrators' kids, as well as peers bringing a younger sibling, even ODYSSEY alumni who live in the area. I find it really fulfilling to help connect ODYSSEY activities to our younger audience members who are not very familiar with us. With it being my last year in the ODYSSEY, I will honestly miss trunk or treat every year.
Production calendar Aug.
Production calendar Oct.
Production calendar April
Production calendar Aug.
1/5
Production calendar
Left: In this photo, the slider is a series of example months from the production calendar I made alongside my fellow leaders this summer. This was one of the most important summer duties we had on our list, so we could plan out the year accordingly. Throughout the year, we had to make some adjustments so that everything was feasible and accomplishable. For me, organization is a huge part of being a leader. I always look for ways I can continue to improve the productivity of the publication. Throughout the year, I have referenced it to staffers and made sure all dates are communicated both through this calendar and verbally.
bottom of page