By Lana Hy
Staff Writer
Independent. Diligent. Committed.
These are words that describe senior Alenna Espadas, Editor in Chief of Gabrielino High School’s Ash-á-Wut Yearbook. Espadas started her yearbook journey at Jefferson Middle School as an eighth grader, continuing at Gabrielino since her freshman year. Inspired by former Editor in Chiefs, she wanted to step up as a leader in the yearbook staff.
“The best part about [this position] is that I get to connect to younger staff members,” shared Espadas. “I’m [preparing] the future leaders of the yearbook team to be successful when I leave.”One of the challenges Espadas faces is delegating tasks to other staff members. By trusting them to undertake their staff duties and hold them accountable, Espadas is able to see the staff grow.
“Alenna is like a natural leader,” said junior Angela Li. “She will take charge in
a group and instantly manage staffers who are lost.”
Espadas can understand the struggles of new members on the yearbook staff because she started at the bottom during her freshman year. She transformed from being a staff member to a team leader, and eventually, the commander of a whole organization.
Throughout her years on the yearbook staff, Espadas will never forget the time the power went off while she was working to finalize spreads to meet her deadline. She lost all her work and had to stay at school until 4 p.m to retrieve the missing spreads.
Philip Zamora, yearbook advisor, notes that her ability to work with different members and utilize their skills is what makes Espadas a unique Editor in Chief.
Being in yearbook has shaped Espadas to be more flexible. She learned that not everything is going to go the way it is planned, which helped her develop her ability to improvise and adapt, as well as improve her time management skills.
By far, the most important lesson she has learned was to accept different people and to get to know them before making judgements. She started valuing differences, which helped her form friendships that would last a lifetime.
