September 21, 2023 / Idea File Magazine

Editors Corner: Stepping Up to Fill a Void

Written by Raylee Mallett

Editor-in-chief was not my original title. My adviser sat me down on my living room couch to tell me the EIC quit two weeks before school – my adviser happens to also be my dad. As the assistant editor, I needed to step up. We spent the last two weeks of summer on our MacBooks modifying the former editor’s theme, the look of the book and the ladder. When school started, I still felt unprepared.

I grew up in the journalism room with my dad, always imagining myself as the EIC sitting at the computer next to his desk one day. When I actually got there, it turned out to be harder than I thought. Challenges and learning curves filled the year, but I made it. Was it a struggle? Yes. Did I enjoy it? Also, yes. What is the best part? I got a trial year, as I like to call it, and now I get a second chance to be the best EIC ever.

What Did I Learn?

Editor-in-chief was not my original title. My adviser sat me down on my living room couch to tell me the EIC quit two weeks before school – my adviser happens to also be my dad. As the assistant editor, I needed to step up. We spent the last two weeks of summer on our MacBooks modifying the former editor’s theme, the look of the book and the ladder. When school started, I still felt unprepared.

I grew up in the journalism room with my dad, always imagining myself as the EIC sitting at the computer next to his desk one day. When I actually got there, it turned out to be harder than I thought. Challenges and learning curves filled the year, but I made it. Was it a struggle? Yes. Did I enjoy it? Also, yes. What is the best part? I got a trial year, as I like to call it, and now I get a second chance to be the best EIC ever.

Defining Our Culture

Editor-in-chief was not my original title. My adviser sat me down on my living room couch to tell me the EIC quit two weeks before school – my adviser happens to also be my dad. As the assistant editor, I needed to step up. We spent the last two weeks of summer on our MacBooks modifying the former editor’s theme, the look of the book and the ladder. When school started, I still felt unprepared.

I grew up in the journalism room with my dad, always imagining myself as the EIC sitting at the computer next to his desk one day. When I actually got there, it turned out to be harder than I thought. Challenges and learning curves filled the year, but I made it. Was it a struggle? Yes. Did I enjoy it? Also, yes. What is the best part? I got a trial year, as I like to call it, and now I get a second chance to be the best EIC ever.

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Raylee Mallett

Meet Raylee Mallett from Legacy High School in Mansfield, TX. With a year on the yearbook team as both a staffer and Editor-in-Chief, Raylee has earned accolades like the CSPA Silver Crown and Texas Silver Star. Beyond journalism, they're headed to a private Christian university to study psychology.