PALO ALTO, Calif. – Junior section editors Suhani Gupta, Jessica Hu and Mendy Mao and Director of Journalism Whitney Huang presented Bringing Smiles to Your Staff, a session on how to increase staff morale and connection, at the annual Journalism Education Association NorCal Media Day today. 

Huang began by welcoming the attendees and introducing the section editors. Suhani and Jessica discussed different aspects of team bonding, including the use of reactions on Slack and compliment circles where members give compliments and toss around a ball of yarn to form a web. They also explained Harker’s senior banquet and cub night traditions, where editors mentor Intro to Journalism students and assist them in article writing and photo taking.

Junior Aryella Finkel-Hozer from Branham High School shared that the suggestions for team building were helpful in the wake of leadership changes at Branham’s journalism program and could be incorporated into future work.

“We’ve been having some trouble connecting with our staff writers and building this good connection between us and the staff writers,” Aryella said. “Connecting the intro class to the actual journalism class is very important, as well as team building. Being acknowledged is always a good thing and they’ll want to continue the good.”

Suhani, Jessica and Mendy presented an activity involving shoutouts: slips of paper with compliments or pick-up lines sent to a person of the writer’s choosing. Attendees chose from four different designs or created their own shoutouts to bring back to their journalism programs.

Finally, the section editors and Huang led a Q&A session to answer questions or address concerns from attendees.

Opinions Editor Emily Lau (11) from Granite Bay High School agreed, citing the use of Slack as one helpful tip.

“We are using text messages and sometimes it’s a little difficult to contact everyone,” Emily said. “The different channels and the reactions in Slack would be really beneficial for us.”