After nine years under former Coppell High School Round-Up adviser Sallyanne Harris, the announcement of former CHS9 Principles of Arts and A/V Technology teacher Jenna Grinnan as the new adviser permeated the yearbook room quickly.

“I could tell they were nervous,” Grinnan said. “I watched a couple meetings on Zoom, where they’d be asking, ‘who’s the new adviser going to be issued? Is she nice? Is she cool?’ Overall, they’ve enjoyed having me. They really appreciate a different perspective and a different leader being on board.”

As Principles of Arts and A/V Tech teacher at CHS9, many of Grinnan’s students would go on to join KCBY-TV, The Round-Up or The Sidekick, allowing her personal relationships with students currently in her Round-Up class. 

“[Grinnan] cares about us on a level that most teachers wouldn’t,” CHS junior academics editor Nehal Pant said. “She’ll go out of her way to make you feel comfortable and less stressed and ask how your day was or what she can help you with.”

Since student leadership positions for Round-Up are selected in April, and work begins on the next school year’s book directly after the selections, Grinnan came into the job with an established editorial team behind her.

“The yearbook is going to be just as good as it has been; our yearbook does an amazing job filling a huge book,” CHS Principal Laura Springer said. “[Grinnan] will do an excellent job carrying that tradition on. We’ve got great editors and kids that are fantastic in each of their editorial positions so I don’t see us missing a beat at all.”

Many of the principles from A/V Tech were also transferable, giving Grinnan a better understanding of the media program before she began in it. Something new for Grinnan was being able to take on a role more as manager than teacher.

“I really enjoy being with the 16 to 17-year-old students who are so much more responsible,” Grinnan said. It’s fun to interact with them – I feel like the conversations are a lot more grown up.”

Although professionalism has been a struggle as students return back to the classroom after 18 months away, Grinnan has a focus on next year’s leadership team.

“We’re struggling a little on professionalism just because we missed a whole year of school,” Grinnan said. “And that is not just in yearbook, that is pretty much across the board. [I am] trying to build up my next year’s leadership team into what I envisioned them to be and how responsible and professional I want them to be while they are in that mode of working from home.”

The biggest shift for Grinnan is the atmosphere of having a student-run publication versus simply a class. Rather than teaching students state mandated information or the principles of a course, selling a product adds a level of seriousness to the Round-Up and deadlines are a priority in ways they were not for Grinnan before.

“Everything is a little bit more serious,” Grinnan said. “We have more deadlines we have to meet and if we don’t meet those deadlines, then we cannot get our product out. We really have to be working towards deadlines and understanding the seriousness of those things as opposed to just turn[ing] in work and get[ting] a grade. It’s real, you turn in your work because we have to sell something.”

Follow Anjali (@anjalikrishna_) and @CHSCampusNews on Twitter.