Despite being two friends applying for the same position, there was not animosity between Emily Barske and Nik Heftman as they waited to hear who would be editor-in-chief for the 2017-18 academic year.

When the two were called back into the room and Barske was announced as next year’s editor-in-chief, Heftman smiled and proceeded to pose for photographs with his friend.

Barske, who is also the editor-in-chief for the current academic year, said she reapplied because she has a desire for the Iowa State Daily to succeed and because she enjoys serving the community and students.

Her strategic plan overview stayed the same, focusing on increasing the Daily’s relevance within the Iowa State community.

“I’m excited because I think having been editor-in-chief through this year, I can really focus more on being out in the community next year,” she said.

In her continued role, Barske plans to keep working to transform the Daily into a community-oriented organization and act as the spokesperson to the community. She also hopes to introduce large initiatives in her last year at the Daily.

“I’d like to see an organization focus on building relationships with community. I think that’s the biggest thing we have to do,” Barske said about her initiatives.

Barkse has four key areas she will focus on to reach her goals: focus on relationships, brand the Daily as a news organization and not just a newspaper, expand the Daily’s digital presence and provide more leadership development opportunities.

Heftman knows that he will still be working closely with Barske as he pushes for new initiatives.

“Regardless of what my position would be, I still plan on collaborating with Emily,” Heftman said. “We’re going to look at reaching out to underrepresented communities still and we’re definitely going to collaborate on the Daily’s long-term goals.”

Currently the diversity editor for the Daily, Heftman focused his strategic plan around three ideas: productive, proactive and prosperous.

He also introduced ‘The four Es,’ a list he created to better the Daily: education, enrichment, execution and evolution.

Heftman also saw that community outreach and digital presence are vital to a news organization’s success and hopes to help the Daily expand those as he continues in the news room next semester.

“It’s not about me at the end of the day. It’s about the well-being of the Daily,” he said. “Emily has done great things so far and I can’t wait to see what she does in the future.”

Maggie Curry will work as the editor-in-chief over the summer. Currently the self and style editor, she plans to work on the Daily’s online presence and social media sites.

She also recognizes that her job is to make Barske’s position a lot easier.

She wants to maintain the print presence, saying it’s importance for students who stay to have an opportunity to work on it and that students off campus still know what’s going on in Ames.

“We’re going to be looking at our presence online and making sure we’re more accessible for readers and that finding our content is as easy as possible,” Curry said.

Curry also wants the summer paper to stop reflecting fall and spring issues and will push for an issue-based paper instead.