Every year The Roundup selects an Editor-in-Chief to help lead it throughout the next school year. The application process includes several steps: a written portion, containing his goals for the next year and his qualifications for the job; an interview with the current chief and managing editor; an interview with the moderator; and finally the best candidate is chosen by the current Editor-in-Chief and approved by Dr. Degen.
Next year Connor Thomas ’18 will take that title, replacing Martin Flores ’17 as he graduates.
When talking to Martin Flores ’17, he remarked on his experience as EIC, emphasizing it “definitely taught [him] a lot of project management skills” in having led and directed a good portion of The Roundup for the 2016-17 school year. He learned “how to set a goal, and at least begin moving the organization towards the goal,” pushing to get all of the articles written and posted to the site. Flores also hopes that Thomas and the staff will be continue to receive recognition by The Dallas Morning News and the National Association of Scholastic Press.
Thomas admitted that he was “pretty happy” when receiving the news of his promotion. His goals besides the TDMN recognition, are to “bring up the quality of writing of the whole staff” which would lead to getting said recognition. Having the best quality writing go out to the readers. He hopes that next year, with his help, The Roundup will “increase our social media presence, constant posts on Twitter, Instagram, and other social media networks. To promote the paper and have more people come to the site.”
“I look forward to working with Connor. His commitment to the newspaper has been impressive; few can match his contributions,” said Dr. Degen.
He admits though, the hardest part for him will be “adjusting to the project management part of The Roundup“; helping run this growing organization is a hard task even for someone not burdened by a high school schedule.
