Victoria Lawson | Echo
Pronounced like the popular crustacean, "Chrabby" is the quirky hybrid of seniors Chrysa Keenon and Gabby Carlson's first names as co-editors in chief of The Echo. The duo has high hopes for the coming year and is excited for what's in store: seeing new friendships form, helping bright ideas materialize and watching the publication grow in quality as team members develop their writing, editing and designing skills.
Keenon and Carlson both share confidence in each other's talents and believe that their personalities and skill sets complement each other well, bringing balance to their leadership styles.
Carlson appreciates her co-editor-in-chief for her attention to detail and is glad that their strengths help fill in each other's weak points.
"(Keenon) really brings a more type A personality, which is really good for me because I can be really type B," said Carlson. "So she sends a lot of emails out, and gets a lot of things started, and texts me and reminds me about things, and also is really good at looking at a lot of the content editing . . . she does a lot of the things that happen on the day to day. We're very opposite but it works very well because we have the same angle."
For Keenon, being editor in chief has been a dream come true. Describing the position as her "dorky dream" since freshman year, Keenon feels humbled to be a part of The Echo and Taylor history.
The two share similar goals for The Echo: efficiency, clear communication and a fun, upbeat atmosphere.
Keenon also feels honored to lead alongside Carlson in pursuit of these goals.
"(Carlson) is very much a calming presence in my life… she reminds me that there's a world outside of The Echo because I'm a workaholic," said Keenon. "I feel like she brings a lot more organization from the big picture level because I feel like I get caught up on little things in the day to day stuff, and then she can come in and talk about how we're going to run training, or how we're going to pay people, or how we're going to revolutionize the way we take pictures. Stuff like that that I just can't think of because my brain just doesn't work like that."
According to Faculty Advisor for The Echo and Associate Professor of Journalism Alan Blanchard, Carlson and Keenon have worked alongside one another in the past as Life and Times co-editors in the spring of their sophomore year, then as news section co-editors in the fall of 2017.
Blanchard believes their experience, paired with their compatibility as teammates in previous years, will make them superb co-editors-in-chief.
"Carlson and Keenon each possess an above-average ability when it comes to affirming, collaborating and mentoring fellow new and returning Echo staff members," said Blanchard. "I look forward to enabling, empowering and supporting Carlson and Keenon in their goals for The Echo this coming semester and beyond."
