Caroline Hoff
Five years ago, Caroline Hoff walked into journalism, no longer just a writer, but the Managing Editor of the Scroll. As Managing Editor, she was responsible for leading and guiding her fellow journalists as well as working hand in hand with Sloan Huebner, the Editor-in-Chief that year.
“I was the managing editor of The Scroll during the 2018-2019 school year, my senior year,” Hoff said. ”Everyone called me ‘Manny’ that year, which was my nickname for being the manager editor.”
Beyond being a leader and role model for the newer journalists in her class, Hoff enjoyed being a part of something bigger than herself. The multitude of ways to get involved in the Scroll allowed her to build a skillset that she could use not only in the class, but later in life as well.
“I knew it would be an amazing experience that would allow me to develop skills that I would use in college and for the rest of my life,” Hoff said. “I knew I wanted to be a part of something that would make me better.”
Additionally, the unconventional, student-led structure of journalism allowed Hoff to form deeper connections with her peers; these bonds allowed her to lead the team more effectively. Now, Hoff works at Axle Logistics as a Logistics Consultant, seeing through the full lifecycle of every shipment in her book of business.
“I learned how to lead a team through positivity and encouragement,” Hoff said. “The Scroll staff was like a family, so naturally this is the leadership style I had. The skills I learned through this role have led me to where I am today.”
Annie Leow
Following in Hoff’s footsteps, Annie Leow filled the position of managing editor in her third and final year on the Scroll. Leow joined the Scroll with a group of close friends and found herself working closely with them, especially in her editor position.
“It was really fun to work with a team like that,” Leow said. “Everyone contributed a lot in a lot of different ways and it was cool to see all of us work together to make something that was physically there — that we could hand out and be proud of.”
As a third year journalist, Leow was well informed of the structure of the class and the many editor positions within staff. She was inspired by the leadership styles that came before her, but wanted to take her own spin on it in her position.
“It was cool to see the generations of different people: the editors my first year and the second year and to fill that position, it was just really cool to see how you could kind of learn from what they did and do your own take on it,” Leow said.
The role wasn’t always easy though, and she found herself learning valuable lessons in her time as managing editor. She was able to take these lessons with her and implement them in her life at college and beyond. Leow is currently a fourth year student studying economics at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif.
“[Being an editor] was really about taking responsibility for not just my own actions but everyone else’s,” Leow said. “It taught me a lot about leadership, working with a team, balancing different opinions and trying to find compromises.”
SAMMY ODELL//USED WITH PERMISSION
Emlyn Polatty
Microphones on, cameras off, online articles. This was what Emlyn Polatty’s year as managing editor for the Scroll looked like. Her final year on the Scroll was during the 2020-2021 virtual school year, which required a unique take on the traditional class Polatty was used to. She joined the Scroll in hopes of one day being a part of the creation of the physical newspaper that excites many White Station students.
“I thought it sounded really cool. I really like to write and I was looking for … I guess my place in high school,” Polatty said. “I had a subscription and I just thought it was so professional that we had this really nice looking physical newspaper. It just seemed really exciting to me.”
However, it was unreasonable to produce a physical paper when nearly every student was attending their classes from home. So, the staff under the leadership of Editor-in-Chief Charlie Huebner and Polatty had to get creative.
“A big thing that we do is we produce a physical, laid out paper. Because there were no students in person, that was not really a priority as much when we were doing school virtually,” Polatty said. “So then we sort of had to shift gears and say ‘Well, how can we engage the student population? How can we still get students reading articles and excited about these articles?’”
The experience was rewarding nonetheless for Polatty who was able to fulfill her goal of featuring novelties and entertaining the student population through the computer. Now, Polatty is double majoring in psychology and Gender and Sexuality Studies at Tulane University in New Orleans, La.
“I really enjoyed getting to be creative and coming up with ways to highlight different groups around school and different things happening in Memphis and all of that,” Polatty said.
MANDY XA//USED WITH PERMISSION
Michelle Le
Succeeding Polatty to the role of managing editor was Michelle Le, a third year writer for the Scroll. Coming back from the COVID year changed the Scroll in some ways, and the team needed to adapt to the recent developments. In her second year, she found herself wanting to be that person to help the staff get back on their feet and welcome the new journalists.
“It wasn’t particularly my ambition, but I did find myself more passionate and more willing to get involved the longer I was [on] Scroll. So, by the second year, I was hoping to step up,” Le said.
During her years on staff, Le was motivated by the passion she saw from her peers. As managing editor, she was responsible for leading the writers to a physical newspaper nearly every month and a half.
“The group is very dedicated, you know,” Le said. “Not many people are trying to write these hundred plus or over a thousand word articles unless they really care about what they do, so it was really amazing to see such a driven group of young high schoolers trying to create a product every [month] and people read it and enjoy what they produce.”
Even during her tenure as managing editor, Le found her leadership style evolving as she learned how to work with fellow editors and first-year journalists. Currently, Le attends the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis, Mo. as a biochemistry major. In such a competitive field, she learned to apply the skills she learned as an editor to her academic life.
“Beyond high school, I’ve definitely had to adjust to leadership positions,” Le said. “I think that in other settings you still need to know how to spread your responsibilities around and trust other people so [the position] helped me grow as an individual.”