Harker Journalism began the process of choosing new leadership teams for its publications, Winged Post, Harker Aquila and Wingspan, for the 2016-17 school year.

The process began with current reporters and editors creating a portfolio of the work they had produced throughout the school year. The portfolio was introduced before spring break and was due yesterday.

The candidates for each position made speeches in the Journalism room in an all-staff meeting before school and during long lunch today. According to Director of Journalism Ellen Austin, the speeches are an opportunity for candidates to explain their collaborative work ethic to the staff.

“The rest of the process [including the application, portfolio, and interview] is isolated,” Austin said. “If you want a position, people should know how to follow you.”

Current staff have been working to prepare their speeches for the current staff.

“For my speech, I was just talking to some friends who were applying for leadership to know what they were saying, and I based my speech on those topics,” Meena Gudapati (10), current copy editor for the Winged Post said. “I ignored what I had written down and my speech was a little bit strange, but everybody was laughing. [Austin] was laughing too, so I was happy.”

Austin will conduct interviews with each candidate before the end of the school week with each applicant to finalize the positions.

“I think the interview is important because there are a lot of aspects to assembling a staff that you can’t develop on paper; it’s a puzzle, not just about a single person applying for each position individually,” Meilan Steimle (11), current features editor of the Winged Post said.

The interview process serves as an opportunity for Austin to question the students on their understanding of the importance and significance of Journalism ethics.

“If [someone] can’t defend their right to report, they shouldn’t be a leader; you have to be willing and able to stand in front of the staff,” Austin said. “The most important thing is understanding what we do and why we are here — and that is based on the First Amendment.”

TALON yearbook recently completed its leadership transition on March 4, using the same process as the newspaper leadership application, according to Austin.

Many students are excited about the opportunities they will get to serve these publications in a more in-depth way.

“If I get [the position], I will be happy in the sense that it will be very reassuring because I know that I can help out in a way with being a section editor,” current reporter Anjay Saklecha (9) said. “But, even if I don’t get the position, I will still bring whatever I can to best help the program.”

The roster for the 2016-17 leadership team will come out on April 8.