(portfolio)
caley brock
(resume)
2008
CALEY BROCK 609 Avalon Blvd. Orlando, FL 32806 caley_brock@bellsouth.net (407) 481-9952 OBJECTIVE
To continue developing my knowledge of publications through a summer internship.
EDUCATION
Completed one year at Boone High School Graduation date: June 2011 weighted G.P.A. 4.6 Top 2% of class High School Courses: French I, II, Writing I, English I Honors
EXPERIENCE/SKILLS 07-08 Legend Yearbook staff member, Boone High School: experience using Adobe programs, taking pictures, designing layout, writing captions body copy and secondary coverage Babysitting children ages 2-12 Volunteer work- Green Up Boone, assist Middle School teachers at Blankner,
ACTIVITIES/AWARDS Blankner Middle School
07 Disney Dreamer and Doer 07 Modern Woodmen of America Oration Contest Participant 06-07 Basketball, Soccer, Track 07 Athletics Sportsmanship Award
William R. Boone High School
08 French Honor Society 07-08 Junior Varsity Soccer 07-08 Legend Yearbook Staff
(essays)
6
my perspective of our year
(essay)
personal
Room 224 is the only place that I know of where learning can be so stressful, fun and effortless all at the same time. Being of staff taught me numerous lessons and gave me experiences that I will take with me beyond high school. My knowledge and interest in the publication grew dramatically in the past year opening a whole new world up to me. I went from not knowing how to change the color of text to knowing how to do most of what is required to publish a yearbook. During deadline one, I put the layout for a senior quote page on the computer giving me the experience of starting from scratch in InDesign. By watching Clare help me with the artistic classes page, I learned how to move layouts around to accommodate for more space in certain areas on the page. I understand that the meat of the body copy is the story that it tells and that finding that story is the hardest part of writing it. By asking as many questions as possible, I learned how to get good quotes from an interview with students and teachers. I learned how to set the camera to take a picture in different circumstances and how to write captions to go with the pictures I selected. We used Photoshop as a tool to fix the pictures to go on the pages. On the most important things that I learned about publications is how to work better with the staff and with others to get everything done on time. I worked with Savannah on my deadline five pages. We had to ask for help and help others in order to complete our stories. Another crucially important part of publications is to make every deadline so that everyone’s stress levels are low and no money is lost. It was much easier to make deadline the second time once I knew how the system worked. Through the joking, laughing and eating my experiences on staff taught me life lessons that have already given me an advantage over students not taking part in journalism. Managing time is a requirement for anything that is done in life. At the beginning of the year I wanted to be apart of so many different activities: soccer, French club, art club, yearbook, political club, Fellowship of Christian Athletes and many other school organizations. However I quickly realized that I needed to commit only to the things that I knew I could handle. I had to set my priorities I decided that along with my school work, yearbook and soccer were going to be on top. I learned to manage different activities with yearbook as well as the things that needed to get done within the publication]. I also tried to do as much as a could at home or after school so that my class time could be used to interview students and ask editors questions. Time management was something that I quickly realized I had to get a handle of so that nothing would get overlooked or done incorrectly.
I learned is that there are no benefits to being shy. I wouldn’t have been able to get though the year if I didn’t learn to speak up. When I was the interviewer I couldn’t be the shy one because I was the one who had to interrupt the class, talk to the teacher and ask the questions. I remember at the beginning of the year Burke told us that she was very shy. I didn’t believe her then but now I also have learned that many times it is necessary to act like I’m not shy even though I am. My interviews are better and I’m not afraid to make my voice heard. Things go wrong all the time and the only thing that can be controlled about the situation is how I decide to handle it. This was one thing that I found out at the beginning of the year during deadline one. It seemed that there was always a problem during deadline one and most of it wasn’t just because it was my first real page. After I had to find new people to use twice and then my page deleted off the server. I couldn’t handle it and I cried because of the situation. That was the worst day of the year for me because I felt so overwhelmed. The other page that went wrong was the softball page for deadline seven. My story was going to be about how the softball team was going to win districts for the eighth time in a row but after my story was nearly completed they lost the district championship and I had to change my story. This time I did another interviewed and reworked parts of my story and made deadline. I learned that the more time you spent worrying about the situation, the less time you have to fix it. In publications, no matter what happens, pages need to be completed. Not only is it a grade but if they aren’t completed, it falls on the editor’s shoulders. I saw countless editors completely stressed out because it became their responsibility to complete the pages that our staff left behind. I realized that if I didn’t make deadline I wouldn’t be the only person stressed and I didn’t want to be the cause of my friend’s problems. Burke, Madison and Chase taught me that the slightest mistakes can make everything else that you have done look mediocre even if it is well above average. I first heard this from Burke when she told us how she hates to be embarrassed and there is no reason to have spelling mistakes in our publication. I then experienced it when Madison and Chase wouldn’t even look at my work because there were spelling mistakes on it. This concept was emphasized so many times but it hurts the most when we were given grammar quizzes because most of the class failed them including me. We want to get great feedback about our book but don’t want to hear about all the minor mistakes that we made. I think that a lot of courses freshmen take are in preparation for the next three years of high
school. Journalism prepares you for life after Boone. Even if you have no interest in having a career in publications, it is one of the most valuable classes that you can take. It’s like having a job. There are assignments, hierarchy and in the end you have something to be proud of. You aren’t just working for a grade; you get something out of it. The friendships that I’ve made in this class are with people that I would have never met otherwise. I love the people on staff and I am so glad that I have gotten to work with them. The biggest thing that I have learned from being on staff is how much I really enjoy publications. It wasn’t the best year for our staff but I defiantly want to continue being apart of this program. I love how the book turned out and I am so proud of our staff for sticking together to finish it.
(reflection)
1
I had no idea what I was getting into when I applied to be on staff. Only those on staff will ever be able to comprehend the work that went into the book. I’m glad that I was able to contribute to making the book happen. I think that I was very committed to the staff, especially for a freshman. My commitment made me want to be involved in helping the staff make the book be the best that it could possibly be. I worked hard to do well because I enjoyed working with the people on staff to achieve continuing to make our publication great. For a freshman, I felt that I accomplished a lot to help the 07-08 edition of the Legend Yearbook. I made every deadline and could be trusted to get work done. I also tried to help others complete there pages by doing interviews and trying to help on the computer if Burke was busy. I also think that I tried to put as little stress on the editors as possible because my pages were always done and they didn’t have to worry about doing work for me. The reason that I made every deadline was because I felt very committed to the program and want to continue with it. I made sure that I did well by staying after school almost everyday and by doing some work at home. Things went wrong for me just like they did for everyone else and I worked hard to get an A in the class all year. Thinking about the next three years makes me want to work harder.
(reflection)
2
I love my Senior Stress Factors page that I did during deadline one. I am so pleased with the design and I am very proud of the work that I did to make deadline. When I picked the page, it seemed like an easy quote page to pick for deadline one so that I could get accustomed to how the yearbook system worked. I didn’t realize how much stress that page would give me. One of the reasons that I am proud of that page was because I overcame many frustrating obstacles to finish it. The computers weren’t working well in the beginning of the year, I had to find new people to use twice because they were on the hit list and when I was almost done my page deleted off the server and Burke had to help me put it back on the computer. That was probably the worst day I had because it seemed like everything went wrong. I felt really accomplished when I turned my folder into Burke’s basket by 3 p.m. on deadline day because I had put in so many hours to complete it. Chase and I ended up creating the layout for this page because Elena couldn’t do it and I needed some help to learn how to use InDesign. I felt like I had an advantage over the other freshmen because I got to learn how to create a layout on InDesign from a blank document. The idea for this page came from a page in a magazine and then Chase helped me put it on the computer. In the end I was really pleased with the way the periodic table looked on paper and how it worked with the theme. I couldn’t believe that Chase decided to use the periodic table concept throughout the book and on the front cover. It was beyond exciting to know that I got to help create it and that Burke and Chase liked it. Because it was my very first deadline, I was excited to have my page turn out looking as amazing as it did. It had the most creative and abstract design out of all the pages that I worked on and because of that it served as inspiration for my portfolio.
(reflection)
3
People who aren’t on staff have no idea what we go through to make the book. They don’t understand why we are always stressed and why we live in room 224. Yearbook is the farthest thing from an easy A. All of us on staff had different experiences and dealt with their problems in different ways but we all had hardships that challenged our ability to make deadlines and stay calm. During deadline one, I had to replace about half of the original people that I wanted to use because I looked at the wrong hit list and then the page deleted off the server. I had to rewrite five out of the seven stories that Savannah and I worked on during deadline five. Three days before deadline seven, the softball team lost districts, a game they were expected to win and I had to rewrite most of that story. Some of my biggest frustrations came from things that were out of my control. That is one of the most difficult things about yearbook. If there were no computer problems, students were never absent from school and they always gave good answers to interviews, then most of the people on staff would have made more deadlines than they did. The challenge in high school publications is that most of the time that doesn’t happen and you have to plan for the computers not to work and for people not be at school. If you expect everything to go perfectly it will be really hard to have a good attitude because you will be let down. Having the right mind set defiantly made things better. It is good to be realistic in a positive way. If you tell yourself that it could be worse you will realize that it isn’t that bad and you will be in a better mood. I always told myself that I had to make deadline. Towards the end of the year when things went wrong I learned to stop worrying and complaining and focus on fixing the problem. There are many “yearbook things” that I learned that I hope that I remember next year. I did many pointless interviews because I didn’t check the master to see if they were already used in the book. I walked across the school and back missing my chance to take pictures because I didn’t get the right battery or memory card. I also have forgotten my press pass at events and games and had to convince people that I was on staff and needed to take pictures. The ironic thing is that we were all warned about these things, but still did them anyway. Looking back, I would have spent less time worrying about the thing that went wrong and more time trying to figure out how to fix it. If I had done that in the beginning of the year then I would have realized that most of the hardships that happened to me weren’t that bad. I defiantly improved how I handled things over the course of the year. During deadline one when something went wrong I got overwhelmed and cried but by deadline seven, I just dealt with the obstacles that I faced. Hardships are part of what makes yearbook, yearbook. Even though I was warned about most of these problems it took me a while to learn how to handle them. Experiencing stress and frustration was the only way to make me remember how to handle different obstacles that I come across.
(reflection)
4
Dear Newbie, Welcome to the Legend Yearbook staff. Buckle up because you are about to engage in the craziest roller coaster you’ve ever been on. There are a million high points and just as many low points but when it’s all over you will want to get right back on. There is so much advice that I could give you. First of all, newbies, especially freshmen newbies, get a ton of abuse from editors. The best thing to do is to play along. Most of the time, they are just joking around. Another thing is to not be shy. Listen to any advice that you get and ask as many questions as you have. Editors are there to help you and if you don’t ask questions it will be hard to get your work done right. If you ever have any extra time in class get ahead! It is always good to hope for the best but things do go wrong all the time and it’s good to have extra time to sort things out. Coming to the yearbook room at lunch or after school is great for getting organized or getting your stories and captions written. Try as hard as you can to stay on top of things. Think of it as a bunch of little assignments verses one big deadline. It makes it easier to keep track of things. A big part of yearbook is dealing with the things that go wrong. Most sports coaches don’t like having to deal with journalism students but you have to be persistent even if they don’t ever respond to your e-mails. Another thing that happens a lot is that students will be absent the day that you really need to interview them. Think about what else you can be doing to work on your page instead of wasting your time pouting. When you interview students remember to continue to ask questions even if they aren’t the ten that are on the sheet. It is impossible to write a decent story with lousy non-quotable quotes. The best thing that you can do is be organized and prepared for things to go wrong. Yearbook brings out many emotions. It was one of the most stressful, fun and exciting programs that I have ever been apart of. You will have so much fun, tons of food, time consuming work and will meet a whole new group of friends. We have cake at least once a week, sometimes for birthdays but many times for no reason. The staff also has their own language of computer words and inside jokes that will take you a while to get used to. Yearbook is a blast but it is anything but an easy A. Throughout the year we get many small rewards mainly in the form of food for reaching mile stones or just doing a good job. We also try to have fun days as a staff where we do something together to take a brake from all the hard work. These little rewards are great but our staff’s real reward is at the end of the year when the book comes out and we see what all of our hard work has brought us. Try to remember all of this as you ride the roller coaster for the first time. There is so much to learn and your hard work will be worth it in the end. Good luck and remember to have fun.
Sincerely,
(reflection)
5
I had butterflies in my stomach as I walked over to the media center. It was the day that we had been waiting for the whole year and Savannah, Tony and I had to miss the fist of the excitement to go to first period. I was walking faster than normal because I couldn’t wait to see the book. We opened the door to the conference room and everyone in it was silent waiting to see who had walked in the door. After I put my bags down, Sydney held up a book and said “Here, come look at it.” I was speechless. The periodic table concept that I had worked on during deadline one was on the front cover! I couldn’t believe that Chase and Burke liked the design enough to use it throughout the book. Memories of the whole year rushed through my mind as I flipped every page. The whole book looked amazing and ‘As we know it’ was the perfect theme. I couldn’t believe that the book we worked so hard on all year was completed and in my hands. I had a grin on my face for the rest of the day. This was defiantly my favorite moment out of the whole year. The feeling that I got to be apart of creating this publication was indescribable. I was so proud of what our staff accomplished even though everyone talked about it being a rough year. I wanted the rest of the student body to see what we had created. Everyone told me that it would be worth it when the book came out, but I had no idea that I would be this excited.
(me)
caley brock
(clips)
7
my work by deadline
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