The Leader staff elects Lily Morgan as Editor-in-Chief for the 2024-2025 school year

In a two-candidate election, Lily Morgan was elected by The Leader staff to serve as the Editor-in-Chief for the 2024-2025 school year during the April 30 meeting.

Morgan currently serves as The Leader’s News Editor, a position she’s occupied since January 2024 after joining The Leader at the beginning of the fall 2023 semester.

Morgan has plans to expand The Leader’s multimedia presence, grow The Leader’s sports section, and build relationships with the staff and campus community.

“Our biggest responsibility here at The Leader is to serve the Elmhurst University community. I want to remind the student body that we’re here for them, and a huge part of that is listening to their feedback.” Morgan said, elaborating on her plans for next year. “Faculty and students want to see us cover more sports stories, so I look forward to going out and recruiting more sports writers so that we can expand that coverage and eventually hire a sports editor as well.”

Morgan continued, “Focusing on establishing a larger multimedia team and strengthening The Leader’s online presence is also a big priority for me. There’s a large portion of the student body who solely utilize social media platforms to get their news, and I believe amping up our multimedia reporting will help us reach an even larger audience.”

Adriana Briscoe, current Editor-in-Chief and graduating senior, had a feeling Morgan would take over the position since the fall.

“Lily demonstrated great initiative as a reporter when she first started writing for The Leader, and she continued to play an active role in The Leader’s success throughout the year as News Editor,” Briscoe said. “The moment she stepped up to lead a staff meeting I had to miss, I knew she would be a great fit for EIC.”

The Leader adviser Eric Lutz felt similarly about Morgan.

“Lily will make a great editor,” Lutz said. “She’s a talented reporter and has made a big impact on The Leader in her short time as News Editor. I have no doubt she’ll continue to build on the great work of Adriana and her predecessors.”

For Morgan, being elected Editor-in-Chief is an opportunity for her to make an impact with The Leader.

“Ever since I transferred to Elmhurst last year, I knew I wanted to get involved here as much as possible. Working on The Leader I’ve gotten to talk to people from all across campus and learn more about our community than I ever imagined I would,” Morgan said, “As Editor-in-Chief next year, I’m looking forward to continuing sharing those experiences with our student body and working to instill that same passion and curiosity in my fellow Leader staff members.”

Prior to joining The Leader, Morgan had been involved in various leadership positions in high school, including being a co-captain of her high school’s speech and debate team.

“One of the most important things I learned from my past leadership experiences is that it’s just as important to know how to do the work, as it is to know the people you’re doing the work for,” Morgan said, “A leader is only as good as the team they have backing them, and I have been so honored getting to know everyone on our staff and watching them grow as writers and reporters over this last year.”

“I’m so proud of Lily,” Briscoe said. “I know she’ll be a wonderful leader to work with, and I look forward to seeing what she and her staff accomplish next year.”

Morgan’s first issue with her new title will be August’s Orientation Issue.

“The future of The Leader is bright,” Morgan expressed, “I’m excited to continue working with not only our current staff but also to start recruiting some new faces as well.”