What happens when you put eight future leaders in a room to assemble a five-page newspaper spread? Chaos! A 50-minute deadline, no snacks, no wine and too many chefs.

We are members of the 2015 North Lake Tahoe-Truckee Leadership program, and we were invited to be Sierra Sun editors for the day Thursday, March 5, to practice our leadership skills. Trying to figure out what personality types you’re working with is difficult enough, but then, you’re given a list of stories that you have to prioritize and then decide the layout — and again, all in only 50 minutes.

We learned that each person has to take on a specific role to balance a team’s strengths and weaknesses. Typically, an editor doesn’t work in the group setting and only has one opinion. When you work with seven others, you need to be patient, while sharing your thoughts.

Decision-making processes are extremely important while working in a team setting. There are different ways of making decisions: voting, consensus, listening to others’ thoughts (or not), overcoming challenges … and did we mention the 50-minute deadline?

Overall, this was a great team-building experience and we all have a new level of admiration for the Sierra Sun staff. Thank you for allowing us to spend our afternoon with you!

We hope you enjoy today’s news section.

— This week’s Sierra Sun editorial was authored by Tom Campbell, Squaw Valley Public Utility District; Eric Sundale. Truckee Sanitary District; Jeremy L. Krenek, Incline Law Group; JT Thompson, North Lake Tahoe Resort Association; Lauren C. Tapia, Truckee Tahoe Airport; Stacie Lyans, Tahoe City Downtown Association; Robert Womack, Truckee Police Department; and Karen Willcuts, North Lake Tahoe-Truckee Leadership program coordinator.