I remember when I was first contacted about starting an Odyssey chapter at Notre Dame of Maryland University. I received a Facebook message from a woman named Amanda, who would become my Assistant Managing Editor, about opening up a branch at my school with Content Creators, Contributing Editors an an Editor-in-Chief.

At first, I didn't really know how to respond. I was confused, excited and a little creeped out (I kept thinking, "How did she find my Facebook?"). But eventually, I said what the heck, why not try something new? I soon learned about Odyssey and agreed to take on the role of Editor-in-Chief for the Odyssey branch at NDMU.

But what does it even mean to be an Editor-in-Chief? Does it mean that your main job is editing? Or being the chief? Which one is it, really?

From experience, I learned that being Editor-in-Chief of an Odyssey branch means doing everything you can for the advancement of your team. And I mean EVERYTHING. If you're a really involved EIC, you would understand. At times, it kind of feels like being a parent.

We all know that editing articles is not a simple feat; it's not just about changing the word "your" to "you're" or "accept" to "except." It's not just about adding or deleting commas and checking on attribution links to make sure they're there. While all of these things are extremely important, the main goal is to help your fellow writer out with their article to make sure they have the best possible content ever. It's kind of like having your parents nag you all day about the little things you do incorrectly so that you can improve on them. You want them to succeed, so as EIC, you have to think strategically and put your time and effort into training them as an Odyssey Content Creator. Therefore, you leave comments and suggestions on their articles. You tell them why it's important to have a high quality photo. You guide them on headlines, subheadlines and social network briefs that work well. At the same time, you are careful not to edit their article so much that it loses their own original writing style and voice. You also end up crossing your fingers and praying that you don't sound too harsh. You hope that they find your criticism constructive because you only want what's best for them.

Being EIC goes beyond editing articles. It means leading your team and making sure that they are doing what is expected of them. My AME refers to this as "cracking the whip." To be honest, I've never been good at "cracking the whip" - I am always afraid of being "too mean." But back to my parent-child analogy, it's something you have to do from time to time because it's what's best for the team. And so you remind your team of their responsibilities and their commitment to Odyssey. You send out all sorts of messages - via text, Facebook, email, GroupMe - to your Content Creators when they are not communicating with you or fulfilling their roles. You hope you didn't sound too snappy, but you remind yourself that it's necessary.

With this leadership comes this necessary virtue - patience. It's similar to the patience your parents learned to acquire as they were raising you. Some days, you will have creators who don't talk to you all week even though you send text after text after text. Some days, you will have submissions that are missing attribution links, social media briefs and proper photos despite you reminding them about it week after week after week. You will get frustrated at your team and think "Why aren't they listening to me?" But you remind yourself to have a little faith and confidence in them. Have a little bit of patience. Be more understanding of their situation. Don't give up so easily on them. This does not mean that you have to be lenient towards every situation - let them know what you expect from them out of love and listen to what they have to say. Sure, there will be those who ignore you and choose not to like you, but remember that not all your team members are bad noodles. There are some good noodles in there, or good noodles who are just having a tough time with life.

And that's a huge lesson to learn as an EIC - life happens. People come and go. First, you start off with a strong team and gain two members every week. But then suddenly, it feels like everyone is quitting and no one wants to join anymore. You feel upset and you question yourself and your ability to lead a team. You're not sure if you're really cut out for this. But sometimes, you need to understand that death happens, school happens, work happens, life happens. Odyssey might not be the best fit for everyone. People might come to the conclusion that they can't commit to it any longer. Eventually, you move on and find new members. You know you can build up your team again because you set that strong foundation.

Lastly, if you're an EIC for Odyssey, it means that you have to carry out the Odyssey brand with you. This means believing that everyone deserves to have their voice be heard. You become even more aware of the fact that some voices are heard more and considered more valuable than others. You learn that privilege of all sorts is a huge factor that comes into play in our lives. You understand that Odyssey can be a platform for stories that have not been heard by anyone before. You listen to all opinions and ideas and learn how to disagree politely and contend in a respectful manner.

As cliche as this sounds, being an EIC for Odyssey is like being on a rollercoaster ride. Yes, there are plenty of ups and downs, but in the end, you can attest that you conquered a lot of your fears and had a lot of fun doing it. You've learned many invaluable lessons that you will take with you in the future, no matter what field you go into. And for that, you are extremely grateful.