Leadership & Team Building
Testimonials of leadership
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Gia is the type of person that never fails to amaze you. She is so motivated and dedicated in everything she does. She is a kind leader that always considers the best interests of the group.
Jillian Koenig - Editor-in-chief
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Gia is unbelievably thoughtful, hard-working, and creative. She’s constantly able to develop amazing ideas that inspire change, spur thought, or simply entertain those who are lucky enough to read her content.
Matthew Rentezelas - Managing Editor
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Gia is very organized and collaborative — she’s always finding ways to help us improve and is always there to guide you in the right direction.
Katie Sullivan - Art Editor
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Gia’s kindness and intellect shine through in everything she tackles. She truly leads by example for those around her.
Michelle Bookbinder - Community Editor
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She always brings up a point you would never think about. Her presence is reserved but powerful.
Manar Hadi - Opinions Editor
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Gia is a kind, sweet, and caring leader. She loves to help others and work together to put out an award winning newspaper each month!
Alexis Rovner - Online Opinions Editor
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Gia is very organised and responsible. She always makes sure things are done on time and she is good with communication. Gia is very creative and brings many new ideas to the table while also encouraging others to try new things.
Izzy Alvarez - Photo Editor
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Gia is devoted, passionate, and well-organized. When she sets her mind to something, the product of work is always absolutely stunning and clearly well thought out and developed.
Ella Goodstadt - Online Editor-in-chief
“Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much.” - Hellen Keller
Leadership philosophy
Coming into my role as editor-in-chief, I was guided by a central force of gratitude. In fact, for my presentation for editor-in-chief the school year prior, I spent months writing handwritten full page letters to each of the 30+ board members expressing my thanks and love for them.
Journalism had touched my life profoundly and I felt that it was my responsibility to give back even a semblance of everything it gave to me. I knew that I wouldn’t have become the person I was if it was not for the incredible leaders and mentors I had throughout my years on board. I took everything they taught me—leading with compassion, gratitude, confidence, and ubiquitous passion—and tried to instill it into the 23-24 board.
Here is a photo of a collection of the handwritten letters I wrote to the entire Editorial Board to express my gratitude.
Holding myself accountable
Before my editor-in-chief term, I wrote down a list of goals that I had for myself as a leader so I could best hold myself accountable in my new position.
These are the leadership / team building goals that I outlined for myself at the end of the last school year.
I met with the McCallum leadership at the JEA-NSPA conference to best develop Eastside’s pitch process.
I met with the Scot Scoop leadership at the JEA-NSPA conference to learn more about grading policy.
I met with The Prospector staff to learn more about editor onboarding.
I reached out to past JOY winner, Anushka De, to learn more about the El Estoque Pitches and Edits Spreadsheet.
Seeking mentorship
I have always been a leader that is unafraid to ask for help. In fact, I found that finding mentors has been crucial to seeking how to grow from my weaknesses and even share my strengths! At the JEA-NSPA Fall 2023 Conference and through cold email, I reached out to other high school journalists across the country to see if they had any advice on how to grow as an editor-in-chief.
I followed up with another El Estoque leader to learn more about their editing system.
Becoming a mentor
When we visited the Harvard’s Crimson during the JEA-NSPA Boston Conference to take a tour, one piece of advice from the executive team stuck with me: leadership is built on sharing. When I transition to new roles, I have tried to share all that I have learned / stories I never got to execute to those taking on my old role. As editor-in-chief, I plan to meet with the incoming executive team when they are selected to share all that I wish I had known for a more seamless transition.
This was a letter I wrote to the incoming Features editors with advice and tips after I left the role.
Grading policy
As a leader, timeliness, particularly in the journalism industry, is very important. I found that the Eastside board was struggling with maintaining deadlines and procrastination so I began reaching out to other editor-in-chief’s and advisors to see how to devise the best grading policy. After collaborating with my other co-editors, we developed a grading policy that aims to incentivize timely, high-quality work.
These are portions of our grading policy for all of the editors on the Editorial Board.
Class organization
I started creating section-by-section class agendas that editors can use to help keep themselves on track. Now, I help contribute to organizing and providing input to a running document of the priorities and tasks that we want to get done every class to communicate and demonstrate my core value of being an organized leader.
Editor onboarding
Before we started the new school year, we had the new co-editors do a bonding event together so they could get to know each other. They also made a presentation about their activities that they presented to the class at the start of the new year to help build teamwork and camaraderie.
Leading in-depth reporting
During my time in Eastside, I have led both online and in-person packages, center spreads, and reporting in general. By working in teams for this reporting, it allows for a more diverse range of talent and strengths to come together to produce publication. I have also built my leadership skills by learning how to operate by deadline and manage a project logistically.
This shows a message I sent to split up sections for a long-term story amongst the team members.
This shows a message I sent to assign editing roles for different stories in an in-depth online package I was leading.
These were follow-up messages I sent communicating my support and reminders for final editing deadlines.
This was a message I sent detailing some general edits / notes I noted for an online package that I was leading.
This was a note of gratitude I sent when the online package I was leading was completed.
This was another note of gratitude I sent when the print center spread I was leading was completed.
Staff trips
When our staff went to the JEA-NSPA National Journalism Convention this past November, I organized and led bonding events like a scavenger hunt throughout Boston’s Newbury Street and Mafia game night sessions. I made a concerted effort to bond with other editors during the staff trips and also share the resources I found during the trip.
These were the directions I made with the rest of the leadership board for the Newbury Street Scavenger Hunt.
This is a board picture at the Garden State journalism convention at Rutgers University.
This is a selection of scavenger hunt entries from Boston Newbury Street.
This is a board picture from our trip to Washington D.C. to learn about the intersectionality between press and government.
The Eastside staff poses together after the JEA-NSPA Fall 2023 Boston conference.
Bonding events
I spearheaded the Friday Lunch Bonding (LB) for my school newspaper to help bring editors together after learning about “Family Fridays” from El Estoque. I created a spreadsheet where members of the Editorial Board could sign up for slots to run their own bonding activity for the board. Whether it was painting Halloween themed canvases, “Groundhog Day” Events, or just celebrating the birthdays of the months, LB bondings served as a way to help facilitate a stronger family culture.
This is a message I sent announcing the beginning of LB bonding.
Editor recognition
I brought back the Editor of the Month recognition for Eastside which highlights stand out work by an editor at the end of each month. We also send pictures of them in our board WhatsApp to celebrate there also! I have found that this practice helps me carry out my leadership philosophy of gratitude in an uplifting and empowering way. At the end of the year, I am hoping to also host an Eastside Awards session that highlights stories of the year and other recognition.
Gratitude / mental health
Throughout my journalism journey, I have been lucky enough to have had incredible co-editors that are immensely supportive. One day in sophomore year when I was having a difficult week, my co-editors gave me a supportive gift with a beautiful note and drawing. Remembering how touched I was by their thoughtfulness, I knew I wanted to infuse that culture throughout the Editorial Board this year. I had the idea to create a “Shoutout Wall” where editors could write notes of gratitude to each other and put it in their respective envelopes. With help in execution from two artistic editors, the wall came alive!
Remembering the journey
After a several year hiatus, I restarted the Eastside Yearbook to help commemorate happy moments and special memories that the Eastside Board shared together over the year. Each time Eastside goes on a memorable trip or has a special memory, a new editor decorates a spread to not only increase collaboration but have a form of memorabilia.
Pictured above is a yearbook spread I decorated showcasing photos from our board Washington D.C. trip.
Fun collaboration
To help liven up layout sessions and introduce a sense of collaboration, I created a collaborative playlist on Spotify during the summer that editors could contribute to. This served two functions: it allowed the board to begin to come together before we officially met together in-person and gave our board a great, democratic, playlist!
Uplifting text messages
I try to send motivating and happy messages in our WhatsApp to help show ubiquitous support for editors — both within journalism and outside of journalism. For example, I have a list of birthdays that I sync to my Calendar so I can celebrate people’s birthdays. Aside from this, I celebrate articles that I think are worthy of shoutout, Best of SNO awards, college commitments, and more!
