Free donuts for everyone!

Free donuts for everyone!

 

And suddenly, I was the assistant editor of something I’ve never done before…

My name is Mia Langhoff, I am turning 16 in five days and I'm the assistant editor of the 2018 yearbook.
In this blog post, I am going to talk about my goals and visions as part of the editor team.

Since I've never worked on a yearbook before, I didn't know what to expect. I was surprised in a good way. The yearbook consists of 13 high school students, and since that is such a small group, everyone has to have a good work ethic. We have to work fast and with quality, under pressure. The first draft of the yearbook is already due in February.

When I decided to apply for the job as the assistant editor - and got the job - I had clear ideas and goals for this quarter. Even though, I never hold a yearbook in my hands before, I figured really quick my two main goals out:

Goal Number 1 or “Now decide: An award or a happy team”

First, it was super important to include everyone in the production. Yes, the editor is in the position to decide more and to lead the group, but it was and still is super important to me, that Colton, the editor , and me are able to include every member of the yearbook team. I want to be able to listen to as many people as possible, so that every single member from the production can afterwards proudly say: "Yeah, this is this year's yearbook and I was a big part of it and helped to make it the yearbook it turned out to be."
My personal goal is not to make an award winning yearbook. I want to create a book that reflects what the team wants. My goal is a team functioning as a group with so different personalities able to express their ideas to each other. Of course, it is not possible to include every single idea or opinion - that would result in a complete mess - but I want to get a feeling for the direction the group wants to go.

Goal Number 2 or “my nightmare”

My second goal is to include every student equally. That also means that the elementary school is as represented as the middle school or high school. It would be a nightmare for me, if we forgot somebody who then has no picture in the yearbook.

My Role

I am very happy with the job as the assistant editor.  I believe that Colton and I have some qualities in this position that compliment and complete each other. He is clearly a leader who is very straightforward. He is good at directing people and he makes them instantly want to follow him. He has a vision for something and then he sticks with it until it is done. I won't lie: Yes, I am also a person who can be very dominant. However, I also consider myself to be a person who can take a step back to look at the big picture and think about how to get there. I like to think ideas through. When I am passionate about something, I have an enduring work ethic and will find a solution for the problem even if it's 2 am.

I am very passionate about the yearbook, I think this is an awesome project! I really got into the job as the assistant editor in the last few days, Colton and I kind of figured out what is the most efficient way of working together. I work a plan out for the next day, text Colton about it and then, he leads the session while I try to visualize our ideas. So far, that really worked out and I hope that the yearbook will be finished in time :)

Because I am completely new at everything that has to do with yearbooks, it's my goal to bring in ideas like a fresh breeze. and maybe get various new ideas that improve it like the idea with separating the individual pictures into Crews on not the grades. Colton and I came up with this idea pretty much on the second day and I think that this new feature is going to turn out wonderfully! Oh and the best thing about yearbook so far are probably the donuts. Every friday Cree brings something to celebrate the work we’ve done in  week. And this week, we even got free donuts on Monday. It was my birthday. :)