The Collaborator: Teresa Randlett, Editor-in-Chief
April 21, 2016
Leadership is a crucial skill to develop as it helps in many areas of life, including employment, collegiate life, and academics. In journalism, leadership is an essential quality that all of the editors must possess in order to communicate efficiently and effectively with the rest of the staff. The Editor-in-Chief, especially, needs to have the patience, insight, and determination in order to successfully guide their team.
The CavChron is fortunate enough to have a capable Editor-in-Chief of our own, Teresa Randlett ‘16, meets and surpasses all of these necessary qualities. As a leader, peer editor, and mentor, she guides our crew through ruts and rivets as we work towards our ultimate goal of strengthening and maturing our publication with daily new content and creativity.
“If it weren’t for the tough times, we never would have gotten to where we are now,” Randlett stated.
I began to see how a work room worked, how pieces were created… journalism class became the highlight of my day.
— Teresa Randlett '16
In the first semester of her junior year, Randlett was initiated into the CavChron crew as a Journalism 1 student. Seated across from her in the production room was the Editor-in-Chief at the time, Julie Christie, graduate of class 2015. Randlett stated, “I began to see how a work room worked, how pieces were created… journalism class became the highlight of my day.”
Then, in her second semester of junior year, Randlett began to figure out how to operate as an editor. “I was helping Natalie Haytayan as the assistant A&E Editor,” Randlett shared, “I watched what she did and that is exactly how I learned to be a section editor.”
Towards the end of second semester, during the last couple of months of junior year, Randlett was approached by Christie and Journalism Advisor Lin Illingworth. She was offered the position of the Editor-in-Chief, as it became her newfound passion.
“I accepted,” Randlett stated, “and spent that last of my junior year with Julie picking up tips and tricks of the business.”
“When I went into it [the] next year I realized I can’t be a carbon copy of the leader before me,” Randlett confirmed, “and that with each new leader and with each new group, a vibe is created/figured out that works best for that group and leader in order to make the most progress.”
While Randlett cherishes her times here at the paper, she isn’t sure if she will pursue just Journalism while attending St. John’s University in New York City next year; instead, she will explore the Communications field instead.
“Even if I don’t end up in journalism specifically, the field of Communications has so much to offer in feeding my passion,” Randlett stated “She is also considering branching out within Communications: “I [see] myself going into one of the sub-fields of media [and] broadcasting.”
Randlett agrees that the skills acquired in Journalism can be used outside of the classroom, adding, “I could study journalism and apply it to fashion advertisement–that’s what so great about the field: skills from one sub-field can be transferred to another.”