Editing and Leadership
Before I even started my first year of journalism, I was already dreaming of taking a second one because in the second year of journalism, you get to be an editor. Being an editor always seemed like the perfect job for me. I always wanted to help others improve and be a mentor they could look up to because I didn't have an editor in my first year of journalism and yearbook. I feel that this enabled me to take the lead early on. For example, I'd pick up unfinished pages in my first year of yearbook, and I became an editor for our school's magazine before I was even in Journalism 2. Because of school scheduling issues that kept me from following the traditional literary arts path, I feel that my skills have evolved unconventionally, which evidently has been the best way for me to learn.
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Use the menu to the right or scroll down to navigate through my editing and leadership examples. Click on the images or galleries to enlarge.
Editing
This before and after example shows my influence on the layout of one of our magazine features. The first image shows what it looked like before I gave a staffer advice on how to make the spread better. The second image is what the spread looked like after. I told the staffer to bleed the large photos so that they are stretched to the top and bottom margins, and I told her to align the text so that it is even with the text on the other page. I showed her how to make these changes through a page I was working on, and as a result of my advice and demonstration, she made the spread ready for publication.
The first image is another example of a page a staffer did before I edited it. I told her to choose a better image because the one she chose was cropped in too close and pixelated the photo. I also advised her to choose a photo of the subject facing inwards toward the opening of the magazine because I've been taught that you never want the subject facing off the page. She then chose a better photo and I helped her lay it out. The second image is the final result.
In Yearbook, our adviser relies heavily on the editors to teach our first-year staffers. As editors, we conduct meetings, plan the ladder, follow up with staffers outside of the classroom, and edit pages. Here is an example of what I do as a yearbook editor. The first image depicts how I leave comments on my staffer's pages directing them on how to improve. The second image then shows the staffer following my advice and making those specific changes to her page. The last image is the final layout of the page which was ideal for her assignment and ready for publication.
Click on the gallery and use the left and right arrows to scroll through the images.
This is actually a story I wrote and published in our magazine, and I would like to talk about how I would improve it. Originally I was supposed to interview someone else, but they strung me along and cancelled on me at the last minute. As a result, I had to find a quick interview subject and write a story. I got the interview done; however, I wasn't pleased with it. In the end, out of time and out of options, we decided to run it as a Q & A. The article was a problem because I interviewed only him and could not get a follow up interview, and then, in desperation, I wrote the story in chronological order---which I truly regret. To improve, I would ask better questions during the interview, find an angle, and write a better feature lead. I could've attacked this project much better in every way.
Click on the gallery and use the left and right arrows to scroll through the story.
Leadership
This document is an example of my leadership role in Yearbook. Because I know a lot about making graphics and laying out pages, my adviser relies heavily on me to teach my staff these skills. COVID-19 has made this process difficult because I have to teach the staff virtually; however, I overcome this by instructing them in our Zoom meetings and giving them extra support through tutorial documents and email.
This is a video I made for the single Journalism I staffer. As an editor, I wanted to teach her about how to write captions. Because I don't see her in person, I produced this video for her to learn from and practice her skills. It demonstrates my own mastery of this skill and was also useful for the staffer and adviser.