It was an application on a whim and a short-notice email that led two Ilium staff members to trade in Upland scenery for that of the Big Apple as they traveled for the College Media National Convention March 4-7.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Donna Downs, associate professor of communication, also serves as the advisor for the Ilium, Taylor\u2019s yearbook. Alexa Twiggs, senior public relations major, is editor in chief, a position she has held for two years following a co-editor in chief position her sophomore year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Ilium, which has seen an increase in public recognition and success the past few years under both Downs\u2019 and Twiggs\u2019 leadership, won a David L. Adams Apple Award from the College Media Association (CMA) for last year\u2019s book, \u201cOverflow.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
To enter for the same award this year, the team was required to attend the annual conference in New York City.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI got to thinking,\u201d Downs said, \u201c\u2018What would it look like for Alexa and me to go to New York?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Downs, who has served as an advisor for the Ilium on and off since the mid-90s, felt that Twiggs\u2019 faithful leadership qualified her for a fun trip to the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The opportunity would also allow them to gain valuable exposure as a staff, receive awards and connect with staff from other college publications from around the country.<\/p>\n
After securing funding for the experience, the two crafted a proposal outlining a presentation they would give at the convention.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe turned that in, what, a couple months ago?\u201d Downs said. \u201cAnd we never heard anything back, so we didn\u2019t think we were gonna do it. And then about two weeks ago they were like, \u2018So your presentation is on Thursday morning.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Downs and Twiggs joined over 700 attendees from 135 schools at the conference. They participated in the keynote sessions Friday and Saturday and spent time in their hotel on Broadway to go over their presentation, which took place Saturday morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Downs said the presentation narrowed in on team building, intentional leadership, hiring and staff culture \u2014 things that the Ilium has excelled in, thanks to Twiggs\u2019 intentionality.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve tried to make it feel more like a family, really focusing on the culture and making it a safe space for team members,\u201d Twiggs said, \u201cmaking the office a space where people want to come and hang out and do their work, making the editors very approachable and personable and overall trying to engage people beyond their skillsets and what talent they\u2019re bringing to the table.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Attention to detail, layout design proficiency, copywriting and photography skills all contribute to a strong yearbook \u2014 but that\u2019s not all that\u2019s important.<\/p>\n
Twiggs identified passion as the number one thing that she values in her staff members.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe quickly learned that the most talented people in the room don\u2019t always make for the best staff,\u201d Twiggs said.<\/p>\n
This year, the Ilium team is committed to the same things that the yearbook staff has been pursuing for decades: preserving history and providing students, faculty and alumni a chance to look back on the moments that shaped their time at Taylor.<\/p>\n
Downs and Twiggs felt that their audience was engaged with their presentation and took a lot from it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the things (Twiggs) said that I saw people writing down was \u2026 \u2018I can train writing and I can train design and I can even train photography, but I can\u2019t train enthusiasm and I can\u2019t train humility,\u2019\u201d Downs said.<\/p>\n
Last year\u2019s book received several awards, two of them being third place best feature spread and honorable mention best feature photography. The team is anticipating even more success with the book they are currently working on, \u201cHorizon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ultimately, Twiggs is looking forward to passing the baton on her position as editor-in-chief, along with Downs, who is retiring this spring after 39 years at Taylor.<\/p>\n
The Ilium staff will have several open positions, including design, photography, writing and leadership roles. Send inquiries to dndowns@taylor.edu or alexa_twiggs@taylor.edu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was an application on a whim and a short-notice email that led two Ilium staff members to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,24,55,54,56],"class_list":{"0":"post-194963","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-new-york-city-headlines","11":"tag-new-york-city-news","12":"tag-ny"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}