Hey everyone! This is Olivia Doro and Karen Manley, the Co-Editors in Chief for this year. We stepped into the role of Co-Editors in Chief with more awkwardness than grace for the 2018-2019 school year. Together we are leading the second generation of a J12 combined staff and every day we learn about how different it is to lead this combined class rather than just managing a staff. Having gone through J12 as students last year, we had expectations for what being a leader entailed. Now that we are here we have found it to be significantly more complicated than anything we could have imagined.

The leadership skills we have attained are no doubt thanks to the guidance from previous Editors in Chief. Neither of us walked into our first class as Co-Editors feeling like we knew how to do everything. Already we have struggled to communicate with each other and integrate both the classes. Do not let that negative-sounding sentence confuse you, though, because we have also already begun to learn from each other.

As we move forward, we know there is a lot to learn, but we always have each other to lean on. Our staff and Mr. DeGear give us little lessons about how to better communicate, be approachable, and how to share what we learn. Most importantly, we are constantly figuring out that communication is key not only between the staff but between ourselves. No matter what we learn about leadership, our goal for the year is to graduate knowing we gave our staff all the information they need to be successful.

Through our own experiences we have learned to take care of the paper and seek out the individuals who will be as devoted as we are. Along with seeking out new leadership we also plan on creating a meaningful and long-lasting culture that gives the staff a place they belong. The journalism room has always been a safe place for us, and by creating an environment in which all are welcome, we will leave the program even better than we found it.

Although this may have started on a negative note, we have already learned so much from each other, particularly in making Journalism a family. These past four years have helped us grow together more than we could have imagined and we intend to do the same for the next generation. As we step into this new role of leadership, we learn every day to be inclusive and make sure we will be prepared for whatever comes our way.