Due to the fast pace of newspaper, new staff members have typically been thrown into newspaper work within the first week or two of starting school. It is great to be able to accomplish things immediately, but we have also found it can be overwhelming to come into a chaotic and also extremely warm environment without guidance. To guide our staff members this year, we created four “breakout” sessions for all staff members to rotate through. The sessions included website, photography, design and ethics instruction.

 Sarah speaking:

 Although we did not originally have a name for our sessions, “breakout” seemed to fit because the four instruction periods were meant to do just that: expose staff members to all aspects of journalism in a less intimidating way and break them out of their newspaper comfort zone. I lead the website session and tried to implant enthusiasm for the website into each staff member. What the staff members may not realize is that in many ways the sessions are tricking them into becoming stronger journalists. Hopefully, my enthusiasm will rub off on them and in turn lead to an improved website. Leadership is not merely telling someone what to do. Leading by example can be an important aspect of earning respect.

 Jill speaking:

 While I genuinely enjoyed doing the design breakout and showing all the ‘newbies’ the elements of design, my favorite part by far was getting to reminisce on some of my horror stories (overlapping photos, really Jill?). However, there was a point to me embarrassing myself. I wanted everyone to walk away knowing that I will be there to help, in the sense of “I promise, I will never let you make ugly four-inch-wide columns like I did on this page. And this page. And this page.” I want everyone to be proud of their work and I want each issue to be a cooperative effort between everyone to make sure we’re putting our best foot forward. Once each session was over, I was excited to see all the people saying they would be interested in design. That is, until I heard “Blow” by Ke$ha coming from the web breakout session in the front of the room. Sarah Darby, quit stealing all of my design enthusiasts and turning them into web enthusiasts by bribing them with Top 40 music. It’s just not fair.

 Lesson of the week:

 1. Taking time to explain all the different aspects of newspaper can actually be helpful, and fun.

 Lesson two of being an editor-in-chief: check.