Newspaper and yearbook editors-in-chief were announced in early April by journalism adviser Mike Tyler. Juniors Shannon Galvin and Uttara Sivaram were chosen to head next year’s newspaper staff and juniors Grace Kim, Lauren Mather and Catherine Nguyen were picked as yearbook editors-in-chief for next year.
“I was definitely excited. I mean, it’s something I’ve hoped and worked for all through high school so far,” said Galvin. “I’m continually amazed at what our newspaper produced and honored to help lead the process.”
Galvin hopes to work with Sivaram to improve staff collaboration and the design of the newspaper.
“We’d want to look more into how we can use technology, especially Google Wave, to improve communication and the editing process,” said Galvin. “As far as design, I’d like to look more into giving the newspaper a facelift that it hasn’t seen in several years.”
Kim also was excited upon discovering that she was chosen as yearbook editor-in-chief.
“I knew that there were a lot of strong candidates that had applied to be editor-in-chief, so I was really surprised to find out that I made it,” said Kim. “Of course, I was also pleased to know that I had shown something to Mr. Tyler to prove that I was fully qualified to be an editor.”
Kim also had some goals for improving the Talisman.
“[The yearbook staff] always strives to get the best pictures, think of new ideas and tell stories that haven’t been told before,” said Kim. “However, I feel that what needs to be improves most is writing the story. I urge next year’s staff to focus on anecdotes and not just talk about who that person is or what score they got during an athletic season.”
Kim wants to work with both Mather and Nguyen to improve communication among the more than 40 students on the yearbook staff.
“What we really want to do is just create a friendly working environment among the staff and make fifth period their favorite class ever,” said Kim. “I hope next year that people work even harder than they already do during class and outside of class.”
Tyler said said he looks for certain key traits in selecting the yearbook and newspaper editors-in-chief.
“In general, we try to meet the goals of having factually accurate and timely publications,” said Tyler. “These select few students need to have the leadership and initiative to improve the quality of the publications.”
Tyler also said the yearbook and newspaper staffs will be larger next year and the editors will face challenges handling the increased number of staff members.