Jonathan Warren 1333 Waterwitch Cove Circle Orlando, FL 32806 jswarren@cfl.rr.com (407) 257-2922 May 20, 2011 Ronda Barber Branch Manager Einstein Bros. Bagels 1901 South Orange Avenue Orlando, FL 32806 Dear Ms. Barber: In any workplace, the values of dedication, reliability, and trust are staples to a productive environment. With these values, I would make a strong addition to your team as a cashier. If these values are as important to your branch as they are to me, I would ask that you consider me for the job and review my attached resume. This year I have demonstrated my ability to manage a large amount of work as Editorin-Chief of my high school newspaper. I learned how to manage others effectively, as well as keep tabs on my own deadlines. My ability to interact with others professionally helped to maintain a healthy working environment. My grades are an example of the dedication and hard work I could bring to the cashier position. They are very important to me, and I have remained dedicated to achieving good grades throughout my high school career. On the newspaper staff, arguments often arise. Through these experiences, I have become an efficient problem solver. I maintain working relationships with everyone on staff and am easy to get along with, things that I believe are important to achieving group success. Having finished the course Spanish 4 Accelerated last year, I have a workable knowledge of the Spanish language and would have no problem taking orders from Spanish-speakers. I hope that you would consider me for an interview where I could better explain and demonstrate my qualifications. I will be sending you an e-mail within a week to follow up. Thank you for your time, and I appreciate your consideration. Respectfully yours,
Jonathan Warren Enclosed: resume
Jonathan Warren 1333 Waterwitch Cove Circle Orlando, FL 32806 jswarren@cfl.rr.com (407) 257-2922 EDUCATION St. James Cathedral School, K-8 William R. Boone High School 4.7 weighted GPA, 3.85 unweighted, Top 4% of class, 2250 SAT EXPERIENCE Newspaper Staff Member, Hi-Lights, Boone High School • May 2010 – present. Editor-in-chief of campus newspaper • Aug 2009 – May 2010. Copy editor • Aug 2008 – Aug 2009. Writer, photographer, researched for news stories, designed Newspaper spreads, and copy edited in AP Style. Haven Community Service Club • Aug 2009 – present. Treasurer, managed money account for club. Volunteer Work • Coalition for the Homeless, serve food • Adult Literacy League, office work • Florida Citrus Sports—Day for kids • Help lead 8th grade retreats for St. James Cathedral School
HONORS, AWARDS AND MEMBERSHIPS • Most involved in class, 2008 Given to the student who shows the most effort in helping with student government in their class • Spanish Honor Society, 2009-present Member as well as tutor for other Spanish students on campus. • Safe Ambassador, 2008-present Ambassadors promote abstaining from illegal drugs and alcohol, as well as bullying. • Homecoming Court, 2010 • All Florida for Straight News Article from the Florida Scholastic Press Association • Quill and Scroll, 2009-present International honorary society for high school journalists • AP Scholar, 2010 • National Honor Society, 2009-present • Mu Alpha Theta, 2009-present • Most Likely to Succeed in Journalism, 2009, 2010 • Distinguished Scholar, 2011
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aving joined newspaper on a whim looking for an extracurricular activity, I never thought that newspaper and journalism would mean as much to me as they do today. Initially, I faced a steep learning curve having to produce on deadline with no prior experience. But, I enjoyed this challenge and the many other challenges that journalism presented me, like constantly improving my writing, photography and leadership skills. Each year, I took on more responsibility on staff, growing as a journalist in the process. I began to write stories that I was proud of and it made me enjoy staff and want to challenge myself more. Each story required slightly different writing styles and research. Each required a different type of graphic, whether it be a photo, illustration or a combination of both. The constant challenge that journalism provides is its most appealing feature for me and is one reason why I am considering going into journalism in college and for a professional career.
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his year marked a shift in my role on staff. Rather than focusing on my own stories and deadlines, my primary concern was whether the other staff members were doing so. When staff members did not keep up with their deadlines, I sometimes had to finish stories for them. I learned how to write with limited resources and time. My writing in general improved this year because grading stories forced me to constantly review grammar and style rules. Because I wanted to set a good example for staff, my ability to meet deadline greatly improved this year. Granted, Letter from the Editor did not take much work, but I realized the effect my not making deadline would have on staff. Interviewing for next year’s editor-in-chief further illustrated the effect missing or making deadlines can have on a staff member’s reputation and ability to be trusted. Trust was a main theme for me this year. In time crunches, I learned that I could trust some staff members to get the job done and help the staff more than I could others. In the last deadline, some staff members were focused on only their own work, while others were constantly looking out for the well being of the staff. I learned that stepping up in these situations builds trust between staff members and improves the working environment, knowing that as staff members, we can count on each other. Again this year, my dedication to staff grew. I had to be one of the most dedicated staff members in order to set a good example and to make sure the paper went to press on time. My dedication was not to my own work, but to the paper as a whole. I learned that this is key component to being a leader on any staff. When it came to ads, I learned that selling requires a mixture of both persistence and luck. My patience was tested when I filled my purple sheet with visits, but only sold $45 of ads. I thought I had done all I could do, but before the final deadline, I went out one last time. I sold over $300 in one outing to three different businesses. Had I given up earlier or not chosen the businesses I did that day, I would not have made the ads deadline. I saw my ethics tested most on phone interviews. There were times when I did not get signatures on my interviews, and therefore had no official approval from the interviewee for what I had written them saying. Had I misquoted a source without a signature, I would not have the signature as record of the interviewee’s approval. I feel that the things I have learned this year as editor-in-chief have prepared me for the professional world. Writing skills, ability to meet deadlines, sales, ethics and teamwork are absolutely essential to success in business and communications, two of the areas I am interested in pursuing in college. Having worked on a newspaper staff, I feel that I have a leg up on other students who have not dealt with the pressure of real deadlines and working with a team meeting deadlines.
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y most significant piece of work was a football story I wrote first deadline. Football is the one sport that most students care about and attend on campus, and in my opinion, is story that students look for to read. Therefore, there was a level of pressure in choosing the story. I wanted to write something interesting and informative, which was made slightly more difficult by the football team’s lack of success. In the end, I thought the story was concise, yet interesting. I thought my transitions and lead were the story’s best features. Despite the team’s slow start, I made the article positive by using hopeful quotes from players and coaches. I balanced a general disappointment in the football team with reasons to continue to follow the team. One difficulty I faced was getting an interview with Coach Ziglar. It took several visits to find a time that was good for him because he is pretty busy during football season. The piece changed very little from first to final draft because I spent more time on the first draft to make sure this story was not a disappointment. The story did get shorter and more concise, eliminating unneeded words to make room for important information.
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ooking back, the Letter from the Editor for the March issue was the least creative story I wrote all year. The main theme to the article was the spring season, something entirely generic. After trying for a long time to come up with an intriguing topic, I gave up and chose an easy, generic topic for my article. I already used a season as a base for my article in the December issue, so I feel that this article was too formulaic. Given the chance, I would pick a new topic for the article that was more interesting. The piece did not change very much from first to final draft because I executed the story idea fairly well. However, the content was not really the problem, rather the overall story idea was. I learned that taking the easy way out may be bring momentary relief, but it only leads to dissatisfaction with the end product. After I finished this piece, I didn’t feel like I added a new element to the paper at all.
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took this picture at the annual Art Festival on campus. It is one of my favorite pictures I took this year because of its composition. The repetition of the black frames and black and white photos are visually appealing. The shrinking pictures also create a depth of field that draws the eye in. While the picture shows the entire display of photos, it also clearly features one specific photo. This way, a student who watched the soundslide this photo appeared in would get an idea of how the art festival displayed work. They may also be able to recognize whose specific work is at the center of the photo. MMT, Art Festival, Artfest 4-26_Jonny1
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think my main contribution to staff this year was leadership. I answered questions that other staff members had about design, grammar, style and content. I hope that through my edits and story ideas that I helped the paper maintain a level of excellence this year. I think that I set an example with my quality of work, meeting deadline and attitude in class. It was important for me this year to maintain dedication to staff even as all my other classes winded down because it set an example for others who said things like, “I’m over this” and “who cares”. Without a dedicated and consistent leader, I think the attitude on staff would have been less positive. Looking back, I wish I could have been a little tougher on staff members who continually failed to step up. However, for the most part, I think I gave good direction and made clear to staff members what was expected of them. With my own stories, I took many of the last minute special stories that were included in the paper. About half of my stories this year had to be completed off of regular deadline either because they were added late or because information for the stories came out close to deadline. I thought I handled all these stories efficiently and published my best work. I hope that I taught something to the staff members this year, whether it be a production skill, how to stay calm in a tough situation or to simply do what’s needed to get the job done every deadline. My position has helped me grow so much this year and to appreciate each staff member for their own individuality and character. I think I helped create a welcoming and friendly atmosphere on staff, where we can be good friends, but still get work done. I think that I fulfilled my responsibility as editor-in-chief this year and represented the paper well around campus and in my other classes.
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