Leadership
My leadership philosophy lies in understanding. To truly unite a group in meeting a goal and overcoming challenges, it takes a greater level of commitment to understanding one’s staff members in order to propose realistic solutions and motivate the group to produce quality work.
First Place winner of the National Scholastic Press Association's
Editorial Leadership award
Photo courtesy of ODYSSEY Media Group archives
Staff Testimonials
My staffers see me every day working on the magazine and working through staff conflict, and I value their feedback greatly in order to serve them well.
Chloe Sears
Print Managing Editor
"Audrey is an extremely energetic Editor-in-Chief. In my time working with her as the Print Managing Editor, she has dedicated herself to improving this program through not only the newsmagazine, but also the connections she created with staffers. I’ve seen strong work in her ability to edit, conference and compile Issue 1 of the newsmagazine, and I’m looking forward to working through the production cycle of the newsmagazine with her again."
Nico Willman
News Editor
Kalli Samaltanos
Menu Editor
"Audrey is an amazing editor. Her critical eye for stories and natural journalistic sharpness have helped me directly along with the staff at large. Audrey is reliable with her guidance, vigilant with her words, critical with her feedback, and regularly steps up as the leader of the classroom. She not only works relentlessly on her own projects, but is also consistently available to anyone who needs her help. The staff could not have functioned so well this year without such a devoted leader."
"Audrey is the perfect example of what an Editor-in-Chief should be. Even though her to-do list is always jam-packed, she somehow finds the time to sit down with you and talk about anything and everything. She not only works hard on her own material but will assist anyone who needs help along the way. Even though I don't work with print right now, I know I can always find support and advice in Audrey."
Mentorship
One of the most important parts of leadership to me is making time to mentor staffers one-on-one, because that is what has helped me the most throughout my writing career. I work with writers to improve their stories by sitting down with them to work on writing, making edits, and helping them find solutions to problems in their stories. By building close relationships with staffers and getting to know what kind of help they need, together, we can produce strong stories and grow the skills of the staffer in a focused way.
Photo by Aza Khan
Photo by Audrey Enghauser
Leading magazine production
Leading the production of two newsmagazines has required creating, editing, and finalizing many designs, editing stories from idea to print, overseeing visuals, ensuring captions are written, and many more editorial tasks. This work on InDesign to compile the magazine is ultimately a one-person job after all of the elements are received, so I take great care to attend to all potential copy mistakes and design aesthetics.
Facilitating
administrative press conferences
As the Print Editor-in-Chief, I lead an administrative press conference for each magazine cycle at which staffers ask questions of the school administrators to gain information for their stories. I introduce the staff, go over our protocols, and facilitate the staff’s questions to ensure a professional flow.
Photo by Aza Khan
Leading weekly Editorial Board meetings
I independently lead our 10-person Editorial Board in weekly meetings to help them reflect on their performance and growth, gain access to resources that will help them edit more critically. These meetings also offer a chance for editors to air concerns to cabinet members on behalf of their staff. We discuss issues that have arised, and determine actionable steps to take moving forward.
Photo by Luna Reichert
Co-facilitating
Linnentown panel
Former Variety Editor Tecoya Richardson and I facilitated a discussion among members of the Linnentown Project at CCHS for AP English Language and Composition students to learn about the effects of gentrification. I researched the history of Linnentown and composed thoughtful concepts and questions with Tecoya for the panel to discuss. This opportunity allowed me the chance to represent the ODYSSEY as a leader and interviewer and make valuable connections with the panel members who I went on to interview individually for a news story, as well as connect my school with an important issue going on in our community.
Presenting journalistic basics
At the beginning of each semester, the Cabinet takes a few weeks before starting the magazine cycle to present to the class about the basics of journalism and ODYSSEY stories. We focus on interviewing, law and ethics, AP Style transcribing, finding angles, and how to fulfill the requirements of each story the writers are expected to produce. This allows us to start off our magazine work with as much intention and expertise as possible.
Photo by Lucas Donnelly
Screenshots by Audrey Enghauser, presentation by Chloe Hargrave
Leadership seminars
As a member of the Editorial Board, our staff meets semi-regularly for Leadership Seminars in which we learn about a certain aspect of being a leader in ODYSSEY, such as the different types of leaders and how to lead by example. We spend a majority of our time discussing these ideas with our peers and thinking about how we can apply them to our own roles.
AP Style mini-lessons
Fall 2020
In order to teach new reporters and enforce in returning staff members the rules of AP Style as Lead Copy Editor last year, I adapted an AP Style guide and presented a different AP Style rule each day during our staff’s journalistic basics unit. With Zoom negatively impacting student engagement, I created a sli.do interactive quiz for students to compete in each day to help improve their knowledge. Giving this presentation allowed me to gain confidence in my position as a leader and make myself available to the staff for questions.
Presentation adapted from Debra Klevens by Audrey Enghauser
Menu Editor
Lead Copy Editor
Editor's Syntheses
May 2020, May 2021
At the end of my terms as Menu Editor and Lead Copy Editor in 2020 and 2021, respectively, I wrote compiled "how-to" guide for whomever would take my place for each position. I used this opportunity to explore what I found to be the essential parts of the job, the ins and outs of the editing process, finding one's role as a student and an editor and how to conduct oneself in meetings with staffers. Through these resources, I aim to help guide future editors as they find their footing.
Editorial leadership workshop
Summer 2020
As a part of the 2020 Ball State University virtual journalism summer workshops, I attended a Zoom session about editorial leadership that gave me tangible tools as well as motivation as I entered my term as Lead Copy Editor. I learned about team building ideas, how to improve staff morale and what qualities are needed to be a leader.
