Selecting students to staff a publication can be a difficult and stressful process, but one teacher says staff selection can even involve a little luck.

“I’ve used a variety of methods to select staff members over the years, but I’ve actually found that the best staffs often come together by luck,” Kevin Allen of Captain Shreve High School in Shreveport, La. said.

Allen said it’s important to look at all applicants, even ones that are not great English or Journalism students.

“They sometimes surprise you when given a chance, and the format of a publication class can let them demonstrate their unique talents,” he said.

Susan Skalicky teaches grades nine through twelve at Legacy High School in Bismarck, North Dakota. She recommends working behind-the-scenes while letting the top editors lead and manage their peers.

“Make sure every student on staff has some leadership responsibility,” she said. “If they take ownership, they will do amazing things without much prompting.”

Skalicky said she selects students based on their journalistic skill, work ethic and passion. She said if a student is passionate, then there will not be a problem in helping him or her strengthen his or her skills.

Allen suggested employing a points system that includes teacher evaluations, writing samples and interviews in order to justify staff selections to parents and administrators.

In addition to giving students a writing prompt or asking for a writing sample, Allen suggested sending evaluation forms to students’ teachers.

“Have them rank the students on a scale of 1 to 5 for several criteria, such as grades, ability to work well with others, leadership ability, dependability, attention to detail, and trustworthiness,” he said.

Skalicky said after selecting the staff for the upcoming year, they announce the new staff at an end-of-the-year banquet.

“The new staff takes over for the final issue of the year so the outgoing seniors can be there to mentor them,” she said.

Do you have any special staff-selection strategies? Tweet us with your ideas at @youthjournalism or post an idea on ASNEChat in the “Staff selection strategies” thread.