Looking forward to 2011

By Tessa Greenleaf

The University of Georgia is all a blur with the onslaught of finals and the conclusion of yet another semester in Athens. Students are gearing up for the holidays as classes are winding down, but here at Global Text Project we are just getting ready to start a new year.

Although the rest of campus may be settling in for the winter, Global Text has been working hard to set up next semester's training schedule for our new interns. The past few weeks we have hosted an information session about internships at GTP, accepted and reviewed student resumés, and conducted interviews for new positions in the office. All that hard work gave us three new interns who will begin office hours in January of this coming year.

This past year has been a whirlwind of a learning experience for me at GTP. Although I have learned a great deal about the world of electronic publication, the most valuable lessons have been those that taught me about working in leadership as well as group positions. Our team on campus is a close-knit group of interns who work together in very close quarters–literally, you should see our office. Every day we come in to work is one more day we have to learn to work together as a team rather than as individuals.

As we embark on training new interns for next semester the importance of teamwork grows with each passing day. Scheduling training sessions and around five student schedules is no easy feat, so we all have to be a bit flexible when it comes to managing our time. Despite the difficulties of organizing five schedules, I am excited to begin working with our new interns, showing them the ropes of GTP and teaching them the importance of what we do here.

More than a textbook publisher, Global Text Project is an initiative that is based on teamwork and collaboration from every aspect of the project. As interns we have to work with one another in order to meet textbook deadlines just as textbook authors must work with us in order to publish their books. GTP is all about teamwork. As we welcome our new interns, I look forward to getting to know them and learn how they will contribute to the project not only as individuals but as a part of a new team of interns. As individuals we all work differently, and it is always interesting and exciting to see how group dynamics change when new people are introduced into the equation. For the first time there will be three tiers of workers in the GTP office: the associate editor, production managers, and student interns. This will be a new and exciting dynamic in the office, one I am looking forward to experiencing.

This coming semester marks the beginning of my work with a fellow intern as we become production managers. As production managers we will be overseeing training and organizing work schedules for the newly hired student interns. No longer will we merely be showing up for our shifts in the office, we will now be responsible for delegating assignments to other people. Our workloads will be different from the ones we have had this past year, and I think I speak for the both of us when I say that we are thrilled to be able to be a part of training a part of the next generation of GTP workers.

On behalf of Global Text Project, happy holidays! See you next year.