teambuilding.
One of the best ways to encourage our staff is through team-building activities, and our staff loves a good party. Though they can be surprisingly difficult and a wee bit stressful to organize, our attendees — whether that’s the whole Pathfinder staff or just the Editorial Board — always have a blast, so it’s always worth it.
Parties are fun ways to get to know each other better outside of a school environment; they allow members to loosen up and have fun. I’ve noticed that because we were able to click at such parties, younger editors and staff members have an easier time asking for help when switching back to journalism since there’s already a camaraderie there.
We also do birthday celebrations for each staff member. It seems like a small action, but I’ve learned to never underestimate the power of small gifts. In the past, when people gave me gifts, it showed me that they cared about me. With that feeling in mind, I keep track of every staff member’s birthday in our shared Cozi account and gift them a birthday card and a few of their favorite snacks (that we forced them to tell us during the first week of school in hopes that they’d forget about it and be surprised on their birthdays) to show we care — because we do!
I also do this at the end of each semester to show our gratitude for sticking with us throughout the semester.
We threw a small birthday surprise for Ms. Katz’s birthday. Another Editor-in-Chief and I (and the third one was there with us in spirit) decorated her room with streamers, balloons, and signs, as well as a huge whiteboard “card” that thanked her for her tenacity and upbeat manner of teaching. This was Ms. Katz’s first year of advising us, so it was important to me that we showed her how she has contributed to our journalism family.
Our whiteboard — or “Pathfinder Corner” — is also a great opportunity to encourage a great team environment. On this board, we have our Best of SNO and SNO Distinguished Site trackers, which help us keep track of our 2023-2024 stats as well as our badge statuses.
In addition, each week, the Editorial Board selects a staff writer of the week, and the EICs select an editor of the week. We do this to show our appreciation for the extra work that a writer or editor may have put into their article or editing that week. This is shared on both our board and on our Weekly Celebrations email, which is a recap email that’s typically released on Mondays (or Fridays, if we get it out early).
The Weekly Celebrations email is an informal email that recaps our staff's accomplishments as well as any stories that are posted throughout the week. Though we can be serious now and then, the Weekly Celebrations email is a fun little way to recognize our staff members for achievements both big and small.
In a smaller sense, one of the most important parts of leading a group with other people is having great relationships with the other leaders. I am one of the Pathfinder’s three Editors-in-Chief — composed of myself, Emily Early, and Serena Liu.
I heard somewhere that the triangle is the strongest shape, and figuratively, we comprise a trio that makes that statement true. Emily and Serena are quite literally the most supportive people I know and they have my back in everything I do (and I have theirs as well!) and leading would be much more difficult if I didn’t have them by my side. We’ve attended workshops together, gone to lunch, and even helped to advise another high school together. As a result of this extensive team building and easy camaraderie that we’ve built, our leadership style is adaptive and cohesive.
The past Editors-in-Chief have also been very instrumental in my success. Particularly, in 2022, I traveled with two of the ‘future’ Editors-in-Chief to San Francisco for the 2022 National High School Journalism Conference. There, we trained together and had fun getting to know each other. After this trip, they served as both my journalism mentors, and even now, after they've graduated, I know that I can count on them for advice, among other things.
