Most staffs have a lot of fun just being together in an environment that is not a traditional classroom. But often this is not enough to ease the pressure of deadines. Here are a few fun activities that might make life a little better on staff.
It is easiest to assign a returning member of staff to be responsible for keeping up with these activities. These ideas may be fun, but they also require work.
Top Ten Ways To Have Fun On Staff
1. Celebrate Birthdays – At the beginning of each year have the staff manager create a list of all of the staff birthdays. Assign a member on the staff to bring in a partner’s birthday cake. If the staff member’s birthday is over a holiday break or the summer, be sure to schedule the cake for a day when everyone is there.
2. Create Teams Within The Staff – Another way to create unity is to have fun competition within the staff. Assign one returning member to a team of two to three new members. These teams will then compete weekly for prizes throughout the year. The current events quizzes are an opportunity to compete and win points for the team. At the end end of every three to four weeks the team with the highest amount of points wins a small prize (often candy).
3. Utilize Timely Events For Fun – To keep the staff up with sports, the members participate in activities throughout the year where they have to pick winners (please no gambling). At the beginning of the year a local newspaper does a fantasy football league. In the winter, there is the Superbowl to predict. And lastly March Madness basketball brackets finish out the spring.
4. Secret Santa – Every year the students put their names in a hat and select a student on staff to get a gift for before everyone leaves for holiday break. On an afternoon just before the holiday break, the staff gathers and exchanges gifts and shares their favorite cookies.
5. Easter Egg Hunt – The staff manager will hide the plastic, stuffable eggs throughout the workroom the morning of the last day of classes before spring break. When students enter the workroom they don’t even realize that there are easter eggs everywhere. “On your mark, get set, go!” Students love it.
6. Staff T-shirts – This is actually something a staff should have as a number one priority. At the beginning of the school year, design a staff shirt with a highly visible logo that the staff should use to promote their broadcast everywhere. Place this logo on the t-shirt and the names of the staff members on the back. Wear these shirts on every show day and when you travel to conferences.
7. Show Day Breakfast/Luncheons – Rather than eating by oneself, make the show days special by having the staff come together. Make sure you plan this well in advance because the deadline is stressful enough. On show days have someone assigned to pick up donuts at the local Dunkin Donuts. Or have each member bring in a dish to share at lunch. Rather than eating lunch in the cafeteria, students can come together and eat and celebrate in the workroom.
8. End of the Year Banquet – Celebrate the end of the year with a banquet. Create a staff awards presentation and ask to have someone organize the food. The celebration should kick off with a speaker and presentation of awards. Announce the seniors, the new members, and the editorial staff. Embrace this opportunity to show the parents what their students have been doing. Announce the upcoming activities for the next school year and what’s going on over the summer.
9. Play A Game – Throughout the year organizations will have events like a dodgeball tournament or a kickball tournament to raise money for charity. Take advantage of these opportunities to enter a journalism team. It’s fun. It’s active. And it’s for a good cause.
10. Travel – Organize a trip to the local newspaper or local journalism conference. Start small and then plan the trip across the country to the national conference. The staff will remember this for the rest of their lives.
Broadcast Staff Manual For The Scholastic Press 